Harold Kutler
Harold was one of the businessmen who succumbed to Brother Benno’s charm. He owned a vitamin business in Oceanside, and one day in 1979, Brother Benno brought him a loaf of bread and left with a supply of vitamins.
“This was the beginning of a weekly ritual that I looked forward to with great joy,” Harold said, “because Brother Benno was the personification of one of God’s happy monks serving the poor.” When Harold and his wife Kay decided to open a soup kitchen in 1983, they thought immediately of Brother Benno and received his blessing to name their ministry after him.
Harold passed away March 6, 2018.
Kay Kutler
Kay admitted to being less than happy that her husband was so involved with the poor. She was busy running their household and raising their three children, but she agreed to come to the first meal served at the Kitchen “to be a good wife.” When she arrived and saw the first guests lined up waiting to be fed, she walked over to them without a second thought, walked down the line and hugged each one.
“I had no idea I’d do that!” she said. “A light went on in my head. I heard a voice inside me saying, ‘This is what I have been preparing you for, to minister to my needy ones.’ Wow! I was finally where God wanted me to be.”
Kay passed away February 15, 2012.
