Father, son cook meals for the homeless; 'It's the most important thing we can do right now'

It’s 8:30 a.m. and David Urbaniak and his son Shane are preparing large trays of pasta, baking chicken and sautéing vegetables over an industrial stove. They work quickly and harmoniously as dozens of people line up to receive a hot meal.

For five years, the father-son duo have volunteered in the kitchen at the Z Mansion, a popular Downtown Tucson wedding venue that also serves as a soup kitchen for the homeless. Now, in the middle of the pandemic, David and Shane say the call to serve is louder than ever.

“When the pandemic began, we knew there was the potential that we could be exposed to the virus by continuing to volunteer. It was definitely something we talked about as a family, but we ultimately decided that this is just the most important thing that we can do right now,” said 43-year-old David. “We feed between 200 and 300 people every week. That’s really important.”

In addition to their full-time jobs as a Realtor and a line cook, respectively, David and Shane volunteer three days a week and cook everything from oatmeal and vegetables to beef and beans. They rely on donations from community members and local restaurants to decide what they’re going to make each day.

“In an ideal world, this shouldn’t be needed at all,” Shane said. “There shouldn’t be people having to come together to feed the homeless, but that’s the reality and it’s crucial. For a lot of people, it’s the only food that they get, period.”

Shane, 18, said he wouldn’t want to be doing anything else with his spare time and is especially glad that he gets to do it with his dad.

Although numbers have decreased through the pandemic, they cook for around 60 people on Tuesdays and Thursdays and around 120 people on Sundays. The volunteers also provide food and medical services to homeless individuals who are sick, medically compromised or who have been exposed to the coronavirus. The owners have set up 30 tents on the premises for sick individuals to stay and recover.

About half of the individuals staying at the Z Mansion are showing symptoms of COVID-19, David said.

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“We don’t know that we’ve officially ever come in contact with anyone who’s tested positive,” he said. “But we are willing take that risk. I think it’s just about empathy. We think about others before ourselves. There are a lot of families and people who don’t have basic necessities to survive normally, let alone during a pandemic.”

Since the pandemic started, the volunteers say a lot has changed. They don’t get to interact with other volunteers or with the homeless community as much as they would like. But David said the owners of the Z Mansion, Thomas and Emmeline Hill, were ahead of the curve when it came to protecting the homeless community and the volunteers.

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They wear protective gear such as masks, gloves, face shields and coats. University of Arizona medical students help pass out food trays, drinks and masks to the homeless while also screening people for potential symptoms and medical conditions.

With the majority of Z Mansion volunteers being over the age of 65, they also saw a significant decrease in the number of people who were able to help during the pandemic. At the beginning, David and Shane said there were days when they were doing most of the work on their own.

Even with new challenges, however, the father and son said they’ve seen people rally together for the homeless community during this particularly difficult time. Shane recalled a time recently when they were completely out of food and needed to act quickly.

“There was one day where we had an empty fridge. We didn’t have any produce. And we really didn’t know what we were going to do,” he said. “But we have an email group with all of the volunteers. And all it took was one email and tons of volunteers donated enough food to stock us up for a month. It was incredible.”

For Z Mansion co-owner Emmeline Hill, who helped envision a business that would give back to the homeless over 20 years ago, having consistent volunteers is one of the most important parts of daily operations. She said David and Shane have been an irreplaceable part of the team for the last five years.

“They’re priceless because they will literally do anything to help,” she said.

As cases of coronavirus continue to rise in Arizona, David and Shane said they will continue to dedicate their time. David said the homeless need these services now more than ever.

“It’s definitely been stressful for them with the shutdown, having a curfew, dealing with protests and the increased policing of the area,” he said. “One thing that’s always hard is police who don’t have training in dealing with homeless people who might have addiction or post-traumatic stress disorder. These people are concerned about these things everyday — where they’re going to get their next meal, what would happen if they were caught after curfew and things like that.”

David and Shane said they hope as the pandemic continues that the homeless community is not forgotten.

“As virus numbers continue to rise, my biggest concern is that when we do start taking this seriously that it will cause us to become more selfish and look to protect just our own small circle,” David said. “If we stop looking out for each other, the people who really have it tough will simply not survive.”