A hunger to feed the hungry

NEENAH — The flash of the slender boning knife coursing over a sharpening steel in Lloyd Delveaux’s hand accompanies a sound reminiscent of an Olympic speed skater’s blade gripping the ice surface as the athlete pushes to build momentum.

Lloyd Delveaux (Steve Wideman | For The Compass)

Like the skater’s blade, honed to precision sharpness to gain maximum speed and efficiency, Delveaux sharpens his knife to give him safe, quick and exacting cuts as he prepares to trim fat and bone from the 35 pounds of raw pork facing him.

Drawing on a passion for food preparation gained in four years as a Navy cook and meat carver aboard the aircraft carrier USS Midway, Delveaux deftly carves the pork into piles of half-inch cubes.

The meat cutting is the first step in a two-day process to prepare enough pork teriyaki and rice to feed scores of people at the Double Portion soup kitchen in Menasha.

Delveaux, 73, volunteers monthly to lead a team from Knights of Columbus Neenah Council 5514 in preparing lunch for those in need at the soup kitchen, an ecumenical mission located at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in Menasha.

“It’s what God wants us to do — to volunteer and help people that are less fortunate than we are,” said Delveaux, who also volunteers as head usher at the Saturday afternoon Mass at St. Margaret Mary Parish in Neenah.

Since retiring from Neenah Foundry in 2002, Delveaux has focused his cooking skills and volunteering on coordinating numerous community and KC food events. He also helps with evening meals at the Warming Shelter of the Fox Valley homeless shelter in Appleton, food-producing fundraisers at Lambeau Field during Green Bay Packer home games and many other brat fries, pancake and porky breakfasts and steak dinners for the church, the Knights and other charitable groups.

Delveaux particularly enjoys cooking for the soup kitchen, which attracts as many as 170 or more diners for lunch.

“The people who come to Double Portions are human beings, too,” he said. “I want to give them something different, to give them the best meal they can get. And they really appreciate it. It’s a challenge to keep coming up with something different, but I love it.”

Delveaux said his love for meat cutting and food preparation began as a youth helping his father process white-tailed deer harvested from land near his family’s home in Oconto Falls.

“My dad and I always cut up our own deer. I still do,” he said.

Work was scarce when Delveaux graduated from high school in 1960.

“I knew where I could get a job for at least four years, so I enlisted in the Navy,” Delveaux said.

He found himself assigned as a butcher and cook on the USS Midway, which he considered to be a good match for his past in Oconto Falls.

During his four years of service, the Midway — at one point the largest ship in the world and the first deemed too big to pass through the Panama Canal — cruised with the U.S. 7th Fleet in the western Pacific.

“I had my own little station in the Midway where I would cut meat sometimes for eight hours a day,” Delveaux said. “We had to feed a crew of 2,700 each day, but I enjoyed my time in the Navy.”

After leaving the Navy in 1964, Delveaux moved to the Neenah area, eventually finding an outlet for his meat cutting and cooking skills, as well as his devotion to the Catholic faith, in the world of volunteerism.

“Volunteering is good. I’ll volunteer for anything.  Somebody’s got to do it. That’s the way I look at it. And I really enjoy working with other volunteers and seeing the looks of appreciation on the faces of people we can help,” Delveaux said.

Cooking and planning meals, especially for large groups, will always be a mainstay of Delveaux’s volunteer work.

“I like cooking something that poses a challenge, like the time the state Department of Natural Resources donated some Canadian geese to Double Portion,” Delveaux said. “Now people are familiar with a goose they buy in the store that has white meat. But wild geese are all dark meat and taste different. I didn’t really know what to do with those geese the DNR gave us.”

He eventually decided on roasted goose served with a creamy gravy over mashed potatoes with green beans.

“The Double Portion people love green beans,” he said.

Delveaux’s favorite meal is chili. His secret chili ingredient? You’ll have to go to Menards home improvement center.

“They sell a very good chili seasoning that thickens the chili up just a little bit,” he said.

Delveaux is currently teaching his 14-year-old grandson, Alexander Bodoh, to follow in his footsteps as a cook and volunteer, but has no immediate plans to turn over his aprons anytime soon.

“It doesn’t matter how many hours I volunteer as long as I do it,” Delveaux said. “My wife would probably like me to slow down, but it isn’t time yet.”

Your Catholic Neighbor

Name: Lloyd Delveaux

Parish: St. Margaret Mary,  Neenah

Age: 73

Favorite saint: Anthony

Words to live by: Volunteer. Be a good neighbor and a good Christian.

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