When you ask convicted felon LeBaron Harvey whether he thinks the skills he's developing as leader of a 25-person kitchen staff will serve him well when he seeks employment, he offers up a small smile. "Well, in my previous career outside the law, I kind of managed people, too," he says.

Harvey is the meal chef at Cathedral Kitchen in Camden where he oversees dinner service for up to 660 low-income diners per day. He's also a graduate of its culinary program, a free 17-week course that trains the down-and-out for jobs in commercial and institutional kitchens. The program is designed for people like Harvey, who, after narrowly avoiding two separate life sentences, could have easily ended up eating Cathedral Kitchen's free meals instead of cooking them.

And it's people like Harvey who motivated Cathedral Kitchen's executives and board to buy the warehouse next door on Federal Street -- they are transforming it into a production kitchen and café featuring a rooftop garden. 

"We'll be earning income that we can put back into the social services part of our organization," says Development Director Colleen Rini. "It will make us a little more independent during these difficult financial times."

When it opens sometime next year, Cathedral Kitchen will be the first so-called "soup kitchen" in South Jersey to run a for-profit café. They'll also be the first in the state to grow vegetables and herbs to help supply that business. 

While still working out the details surrounding the restaurant's theme and menu, the team has hired Philadelphia's DAS Architects to design the 40-seat interior. DAS' work in Cathedral Kitchen's existing cafeteria (where volunteers serve patrons instead of making them shuffle through a food line) might not have drawn much citywide attention, but their designs at Le Bec-Fin, Morimoto, Union Trust and Pod certainly have. 

"I think people who work in Camden will feel comfortable coming here," says Rini. "We already have people waiting for us to open."

Part of the buzz stems from the fact that Cathedral Kitchen's executive chef, Jonathan Jernigan, helmed the kitchen at the defunct Harbor League Club in downtown Camden -- a private club that once hosted the top names in Philadelphia and New Jersey law, business and politics. Jernigan also trained Food Network chef Aaron McCargo.

Cathedral Kitchen Café will be staffed by five graduates of the culinary program. It will be a place where students can learn management skills. In the back, the production kitchen will provide space for advanced education programs like baking and restaurant operations, as well as an expanded for-profit contract and catering business run by graduates and professionals, with some help from students.

29-year-old grad Sharif Byrd works at Cathedral Kitchen preparing contract meals for a local halfway house and domestic-violence shelter, but intends to apply for a position in the café. He's excited for the opportunity to cook different styles of food in a more formal atmosphere than he's used to. 

"To have a fine dining restaurant in the middle of Camden!" he exclaims. "We have a lot of people backing this to make sure it's going to be a success. A lot of money, time and effort are being spent."

Hopefully, the converted building will add one more bright spot on a strip where the fresh bricks and outdoor art of the Cathedral Kitchen building provide the only visual respite from a landscape of abandoned factories, empty lots and boarded-up rowhouses.  

"It can only benefit the city because there will actually be a decent place to eat and a nice addition to what may become a burgeoning restaurant scene," says Executive Director Karen Talarico.

Staff will launch a public capital campaign at their Harvest for Hunger fundraiser on November 1. They've already raised more than one quarter of the $2 million they're seeking. 

"It's been a great project," says Talarico. "Our board is very enthusiastic. They all decided it was a great idea and we went fast-forward on it."

Culinary education is a powerful tool. It offers teaches marketable skills and graduates who show aptitude face few barriers to their advancement. Plus, there's always a need for restaurant workers. Cathedral Kitchen rigorously interviews applicants to make sure they're serious, then stocks its curriculum with classes in life skills and financial literacy along with job placement services. 

Some students go on to jobs at top local restaurants, often under chefs that have visited the program. Those include Blackbird and West Side Gravy (Chef Alex Capasso), The Tortilla Press and Tortilla Press Cantina (Chef Mark Smith) and Nunzio Ristorante Rustico (Nunzio Patruno). Camden native McCargo leads occasional classes and usually shows up at graduation with a present for the valedictorian. Governor Chris Christie has also made an appearance. 

Byrd says the program allowed him to find career direction after a post-college prison stint ruined his chances of playing professional football. He's proud of formerly wayward friends who've found similar direction through Cathedral Kitchen and expects that its forthcoming opportunities will steer future students toward their own success.

"In cooking, I found a newfound love I never knew I had," says Byrd. "I owe a lot of what I have now to God and Cathedral Kitchen."

TARA NURIN is a freelance writer based in South Jersey. Send feedback here.