ALTON, Iowa | Locals still meet for coffee each morning in the OK Cafe site in downtown Alton, as they've done for decades.
By afternoon, the place transforms into a mission of sorts: racks of clothing in the back, food packaging out front, delivery people coming and going as work progresses on apartment units upstairs.
The café site that once bristled with activity still does, just in different forms.
"We're repurposing the whole thing," says Rod Hofmeyer, a resident of rural Alton who can trace the origins of his nonprofit entity to a fork in the road he met in Las Vegas three to four decades ago.
"I was adopted, so to speak, in a mission in Las Vegas," Hofmeyer says. "The missionary took an interest in me, and I came back to reality there."
The reality is a small farm operation near Alton and a big charity he and wife Jane Hofmeyer established six years ago. Zestos (the name is Greek for "zeal" or "fervor") collects food in several sites and distributes it to those in need, often gathering and sending out an estimated 1,200 bags of groceries each month throughout Northwest Iowa.
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"Where there's a need for food, there's a need for other things, too," Hofmeyer says. "Our goal initially was to tend to a variety of needs with struggling people and bring them into fellowship and maybe address areas in their lives where they had trouble."
The organization grew beyond food service quickly. Last year, Zestos volunteers renovated a former office supply store on Central Avenue in downtown Le Mars, Iowa, and began collecting donated clothing, appliances, books, furniture and more at the site. Those in need may stop by to pick up something to help ease their burden at home.
"The Le Mars site keeps getting better," Hofmeyer says. "It has a good support mechanism there. People are so good about donations. The flow of people in there is great. We're able to take care of some of the needs for people who can't afford to buy certain things."
A similar Shepherd's Closet began initially in Orange City.
The third such satellite now has a home at the former OK Café in Alton.
"We got an opportunity with a local bank where they helped us get the old OK Café site," Hofmeyer says. "This is where we do lots of food packaging and handling. It will one day have four apartments upstairs. We have renters."
A rack of 150 coats was positioned for a Zestos holiday meal prepared by Sudexo Food Service pros at Northwestern College in Orange City. Serving took place at the Mayflower Congregational United Church of Christ in Sioux City around Thanksgiving. At the end of the meal, all 150 coats were gone, grabbed by those who turned out for the holiday meal.
"A lot of people got blessed," Hofmeyer says.
