Court order temporarily blocks Orange City Council’s termination of licensing agreement with Mary’s Kitchen

A federal judge blocked the Orange City Council's forced termination of Mary’s Kitchen licensing, which previously required the local soup kitchen to vacate the premises by Sept. 18. DANIEL PEARSON, Staff Photographer

A court order from U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter will temporarily prevent the Orange City Council from terminating the licensing agreement with Mary’s Kitchen, a local soup kitchen that was previously required to vacate the premises by Sept. 18 due to excessive criminal activity in the area.

The civil minutes — filed on Sept. 17 — barrs Orange city officials from ending the agreement with Mary’s Kitchen until the hearing, which is scheduled for Sept. 30 at 9 a.m.

“The employees and agents of the City of Orange are enjoined from taking any actions to terminate the lease of Mary’s Kitchen, including but not limited to obstructing Plaintiff’s access to the property or preventing Plaintiff’s provision of food, hygiene, and medical services, until such time as this matter can be further litigated in the hearing on the preliminary injunction,” the civil minutes stated.

In a prior interview with The Panther Sept. 16, Mary’s Kitchen President and CEO Gloria Suess said the organization wasn’t going anywhere and planned to continue as normal as it awaited updates from legal representatives.

“Our guests have been asking, ‘Where are you going?’” Suess told The Panther. “I said, ‘Well, we aren’t going anywhere until we know.’”

Now, in the wake of the court order, Suess told The Panther in a Sept. 21 interview she never doubted the extended stay — despite the past three months of concern.

“We were so excited,” Suess said. “We’re very confident that the city will end up working with us and that we can come to a good conclusion. They can't tell us after 27 years that we are supposed to just take all our stuff and move out.”

That same excitement extends to all the people who receive services from the organization, Suess added.

“Our homeless (population) was very anxious about their mail, their food, their showers, their clothing (and) all the things that we do for them,” Suess said. “I couldn’t tell them anything (except) that we are going to be there for them as long as we can, and we don’t intend to close … We always intended to stay open until we had another place to go. That’s been our mantra. We cannot stop services.”

While on the phone with The Panther, Suess was interrupted by an individual asking to use the showers, since the person had not showered for three days. She pointed to the incident as a perfect example of why Mary’s Kitchen must remain open.

Suess also emphasized that the organization has been doing it’s best to mitigate criminal activity in the area, including only providing services and meals to people who follow the rules and keep the peace.

For now, Mary’s Kitchen is continuing operations as normal until the end of September. 

“We’re thankful and very pleased that the first hurdle is crossed, and (the homeless population) will know they’ll still have services hopefully until we can have another place,” Suess said. “There has been overwhelming community support for us, and I don’t think the city was quite prepared for that much support. We just make such a big difference in their lives every single day. They are secure while they are here, and they are accepted while they are here — provided they follow our rules.”