Queen City Kitchen

queen city kitchen was founded as the over-the-rhine kitchen in 1976 by father thomas bokenkotter and his colleagues. fr. bokenkotter had visited dorothy day’s house of hospitality in new york city and realized cincinnati needed a kitchen to provide a meal without obligatory religious service for the 80 percent of the 10,000 residents in cincinnati’s over-the-rhine neighborhood living in poverty. fr. bokenkotter recruited volunteers, and with just $700 he began serving meals in a building on main street. a second location opened in walnut hills in 1984. the over-the-rhine kitchen moved several times before settling, in 2003, into its current location at 1620 vine street. the walnut hills kitchen is housed in the geiger house, a property named for tom geiger, who helped open the original over-the-rhine kitchen. in 2018, the organization changed its name to queen city kitchen to better reflect its mission to serve all cincinnati neighbors. fr. bokenkotter taught that people experience po