Otherside Ministries is a non-profit organization founded and created by head chef Jason Taylor. Based in Apache Junction, but serving all of the Phoenix metro area, their mission is to provide hope and faith-based resolution to those in need and also provide high level catering to all.
They offer catering, hot meal services for the homeless, and a summer Culinary Arts school.
Taylor, who lived a bit of a drifter lifestyle before creating Otherside Ministries, also once found himself homeless for a period of time.
“I got to Florida and I couldn’t find work anywhere and I got stuck sleeping on the beach in Florida. Sounds fun, but it sucked immensely,” Taylor said.
Things became worse before they got better for Taylor.
“It got harder and harder and I was stealing to eat and doing what I had to do—you know you become an uncomfortable truth, people would lock their cars when I would come up to the light to cross the street, nobody makes eye contact with you when you’re homeless,” Taylor said.
It seemed the odds were stacked against Taylor, and then fate and faith shone a light for him.
One man’s act of kindness changed everything.
“Last ditch effort…I wandered into a church on a Sunday, a man came to up me and asked ‘what do you want’? I told him my story—told him I was homeless and he took me home and fed me that day, found me a kitchenette and paid for three weeks to stay in this hotel and paid for everything,” Taylor said. “That one action back in the 90s, when I was in my early 20s…I don’t remember what the guy looked like, I could walk past him on the street I’d never know but he changed the trajectory of my life. I was at the point of giving up and he saved my life.”
Taylor uses his platform to give back to those who are, or may be, in similar situations, to show that sometimes all a person needs is an act of kindness to change their outlook on life.
Whether it’s providing meals, catering, or teaching, Taylor told Northeast Valley News that he wants to use Otherside Ministries to make a difference in the world.
Duwayne Collier is a graduate and now sponsor of Taylor’s culinary school, and Taylor’s right-hand man for Otherside Ministries.
Collier is one of many success stories who changed their lives with help from Otherside.
He took advantage of a sponsorship program provided by the culinary school.
“I had been cooking for a lot of years but never had any actual culinary training, so I started to think about doing an actual cooking school, but they’re kind of expensive, Jason’s class had an opportunity for people to sponsor, which is really cool, he put me on another level,” Collier said.
Collier was able to receive training and certifications without out-of-pocket cost to him and was able to learn new cooking techniques that he could share with others.
Collier and Taylor are both at the front of Otherside’s mission to provide hope and give back to their community.
“To be able to use one of your God-given gifts to give back to the community, is just like a win-win,” Collier said. “I come out and peek out before everybody is gone—I look out and see everybody eating, you know it just makes me feel good man. If I wasn’t back there cooking, they wouldn’t be out there enjoying that meal.”
Otherside Ministries is holding a fundraiser event and silent auction on Nov. 10 called the Otherside Gala, at 1226 N. Signal Butte Rd. Mesa, AZ 85267.
Those interested in attending can follow this link: https://othersideministries.org/2023-gala/
