Doramise Moreau toils long past midnight in her tiny kitchen every Friday — boiling lemon peels, crushing fragrant garlic and onion into a spice blend she rubs onto chicken and turkey, cooking the dried beans that accompany the yellow rice she’ll deliver to a Miami church.
She’s singlehandedly cooked 1,000 meals a week since the pandemic’s start — an act of love she’s content to perform with little compensation.
Moreau, a 60-year-old widow who lives with her children, nephew and three grandchildren, cooks in the kitchen of a home built by Habitat for Humanity in 2017.
Her days are arduous. She works part-time as a janitor at a technical school, walking or taking the bus. But the work of her heart, the reason she rises each morning, is feeding the hungry.
As a little girl in Haiti, she often pilfered food from her parents’ pantry — some dried rice and beans, maybe an onion or an ear of corn — to give to someone who needed it.
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“Sometimes when you’re looking at people in their face, they don’t need to ask you,” she explained. “You can see they need something.”
Her mother was furious, constantly scolding and threatening Moreau, even telling the priest to refuse to give her communion. But she was not deterred.
“I told her, ‘You can whup me today, you can whup me tomorrow, but I’m going to continue to do it.’”
Decades later, Moreau is still feeding the hungry.
She borrows the church truck to buy groceries on Thursday and Friday and cooks into the wee hours of the night for Saturday’s feedings. Notre Dame d’Haiti Catholic Church pays for the food, relying on donations. Moreau prepares the meals singlehandedly, while church volunteers serve or deliver them to shut-ins.
“Americans, Spanish, Haitian, they come here,” she said. “Even when I’m closing, they say, ’Please, can I have some,’ and I give it to them, because if they go home and have nothing it hurts my feelings.”
Moreau also feeds people back in her little village north of Port-au-Prince. Despite her meager salary, she sends food pallets monthly to her sisters and brother, nieces, nephews and neighbors, telling her sister over the phone to make sure this person gets a bag of rice and that person gets the sardines.
Every morning before work, for the church’s staff, police and local community leaders, Moreau prepares a table with a special Haitian hot tea to ward off colds. She lays out vapors to inhale and other remedies from her homeland believed to strengthen the immune system.
“She takes care of everybody from A to Z,” said Reginald Jean-Mary, pastor at the church. “She’s a true servant. She goes beyond the scope of work to be a presence of hope and compassion for others.”
A few years ago when the church couldn’t afford to hire a cleaning crew, Moreau offered to do it for a negligible sum. She does it with a cheerful heart.
And until recently, she’s done it all without a car.
But last month, Moreau was surprised with a new Toyota Corolla topped with a big red bow. As part of a local anti-poverty initiative, community leaders nominate residents known for community service. The Martin Luther King Economic Development Corporation purchases the cars wholesale through a grant, and Moreau pays $125 a month and will own it after three years.
With her janitorial job and all her work at the church, people often ask Moreau if she’s exhausted. But she says she is fueled by her faith.
“I can keep all the money for myself and never give anyone a penny,” she said. “But if you give from your heart and never think about yourself, God will provide for you every day. The refrigerator will never be without food.”
Video of Doramise Moreau receiving gift of a new car:
Kelli Kennedy is a reporter with the Associated Press, based in Miami.
21 Responses
This incredible saint, Doramise Moreau, puts all those celebrity pastors to shame. What a witness!
Enjoy reading this uplifting story of one living out their faith in action. No treasures on earth but investment in the Kingdom of God.
Thank you for this story Roys Report.
What a great story and that she’s encouraging people with good food and love and even immune system boosting tea!
The first shall be last and the last first. This is real Christianity.
Thank you SO much for letting us know about this precious sister in Christ. What an amazing example to follow!!
Thank you for this story. It’s encouraging to see people living out the example Christ set for us.
Doramise is an inspiration. I know you’re not supposed to compare but she puts me to shame. I can do something to make the world a better place. Lord forgive me and help me to do something in Jesus.
God bless her.
Beautiful, beautiful! We need to hear the stories of what’s wrong in the church (or else we cannot fix it), but I also LOVE reading stories of people being the hands, feet, and heart of Jesus!
God bless her! Thank you for sharing her story.
What a beautiful soul!
“Little becomes MUCH…When we place it in The Master’s Hands…”
Stay humble, and God will exhalt thee at the proper time…
Beautiful story about her servant’s heart.
An uplifting story and a welcome break from dealing with the wretched hive of scum and villiany that is RZIM, Dave Ramsey Solutions, and GCC/GTY/TMUS.
What happened? Why are we so drawn to the popular speakers and leaders of the mega churches? How do we get so “into” these popular teachers and how great they are and give not as much thought about what this lady does? God Bless her for reminding me what boots on the ground Christianity should look like in my own life.
Maybe JMac GTY) and JMac (Harvest) can part with some of their excess cash and send to her for her faithful and tireless efforts to feed the poor and needy>
What a great story! Let this dear sister’s example stir us up to love and good works; to show the love of God by loving and serving other people, to the glory of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
What an amazing and loving servant of Christ. It warms my heart but also convicts me as I am way too selfish of a person.
“It is no use walking anywhere to preach unless our walking is our preaching.” -Francis of Assisi
Thank you, Doramise. You’re life speaks louder than words.
This dear saint is being the hands and feet of Jesus, and I feel a conviction in my own heart that I need to do more. This is what brings people to Jesus, not the prideful, greedy, immoral and unethical behavior that is thankfully being exposed in our evangelical word.