At 2 p.m., just after the lunch rush, Adullam Kitchen is located on Section 2, Datong Road in Xizhi District, New Taipei City. Mr. Lin Ming-liang, Secretary-General of Adullam Home, leads the staff in a meeting to discuss how to handle the 30% increasing orders for Mother's Day. In the previous Sunday, they had just reached a new record that surpassed NT$ 100,000 in the daily revenue for the first time since opening.

Overcoming Drug Addiction and Living Together in the "Village Homes"
Adullam Kitchen is the skill training department of Adullam Home, which was founded on 5th September in 2016 and is operating to its 10th year. Adullam Home, which was established a year earlier, is a Christian faith-based social welfare organization that helps and accompanies individuals with a desire to overcome drug and alcohol addiction and rebuilds their lives. Mr. Lin Ming-liang, a "former addict," shared that even after overcoming addiction, many addicts still struggle to reenter the workplace due to the pressure, fast pace of society, and lack of confidence and social support. To solve the issue, they had founded Adullam Kitchen, which "serves as a transitional employment hub for rehabilitated individuals and gives a stable place to settle." Mr. Lin, who had the same struggle firsthand, explained the motivation behind founding Adullam Kitchen.

Unlike other organizations, Adullam Kitchen's approach ensures that rehabilitated individuals don't fall back into the wrong old track. The staff members live and work together. "We adopt a communal approach. After work, we don't go back to individuals' homes instead of our shared home. In addition, we provide courses and social workers' counseling to help our brothers rebuild their livelihoods, lives, and values." Adullam Home has established three rehabilitation villages, known as "Village Home," in Shiding, Keelung, and Maling to settle down the rehabilitated individuals from drug addiction. Most of the staff members in Adullam Kitchen meet each other in the early stage of the rehabilitation and form a big family.

Adapting to Society and Affirming Life's Value is Key
Therefore, the business of Adullam Kitchen not only comes from schools, long-term care facilities, and charitable organizations, but also supports from the church system, such as catering for after-school programs and holiday events. "Alcoholism and drug addiction destroy the whole person—body, mind, spirit, and social relationships. What is most needed is lifelong companionship," said Mr. Lin Ming-liang, who has helped nearly 300 people overcome addition. Outsiders cannot imagine how difficult Adullam Home faces. In addition to financial and manpower challenges, helping rehabilitated individuals adapt to society is far more difficult than most people would think.

"We had an employee who took the Scooter License test 35 times before passing!" Mr. Lin revealed. Mr. Zhang Rui-ming, a rehabilitated person who failed numerous times but never gave up. "He was so frustrated by repeated test failures and started praying to God before each test." With the encouragement and support of his church friends, he eventually obtained his license! Ms. Zhang Li-zhen, the administrative director of Adullam Home, who has long accompanied rehabilitated individuals, shared that "At first, Mr. Zhang Rui-ming could only deliver the meals to two places in one trip. As he gained confidence and experience, now he can deliver to 5 or 6 places in a single trip."

Over the past 9 years, Ms. Zhang Li-zhen has faced numerous challenges in training staff. She points out the key: "When a person's life is on the right path, everything they do will be right. That's why we focus on solving their life issues." Currently, Adullam Kitchen has achieved stable food quality, and the next step is to foster team unity, which reaches a sustainable operation.

Chief Training Program: Not Missing a Single Person
Since 2019, Adullam Kitchen has been supported by the "Multi-Employment Development Program" of the Ministry of Labor. Through the "Social Type—Adullam Kitchen—Employment Buffer Program for Rehabilitated Individuals," the Kitchen gained the manpower of one project manager and four staff members. In 2021, they proposed the "Economic Type—The Year One and Two Adullam Kitchen—Chef Training Program for Rehabilitated Individuals." They are now in the first year of a relatively subsidized program.

"In 2020, although we submitted the program, it can only retain one staff member in the second year. What should our Adullam brothers do after?" We had to redirect those trained manpower out painfully." Ms. Zhang explained the reason behind the one-year suspension of the program. She displayed a tracking chart of staff members since the inception of Adullam Kitchen. The chart shows the Kitchen has provided job opportunities to 25 people since its establishment and records the number of new hires, retained staff, internships, and external employment each year. It even tracks those who have gone missing, relapsed, or returned to prison, demonstrating Adullam Home's solid determination to ensure "not a single person is left behind" in its reemployment assistance for rehabilitated individuals.

With the support of the Ministry of Labor's related programs, Adullam Kitchen has achieved staffing stability, allowing it to secure a solid operation foundation and afford expanded kitchen equipment and chef training expenses. "When we started 9 years ago, we only had 4 to 5 staff members, but now we have 8. Our monthly revenue has grown from NT$200,000 to 300,000 to over one million!" With the growing business achievement, Mr. Lin said confidently "The rehabilitated brothers can work with their own hands, doing honest jobs. Someday, we will take off the government subsidies and fully rely on ourselves."
The Official Facebook Website of Adullam Home

Mr. Zhong Huo-xin: I can't live only for myself but for my family
At 50 years old, Mr. Zhong Huo-xin is an assistant chef at Adullam Kitchen. He helps his second-grade daughter to do her homework in the store during his afternoon break. It's hard to imagine that this healthy man in front of us once used amphetamine in his youth. To suppress his addiction, he turned to alcohol, which led him to a vicious cycle and eventually resulted in 70% liver cirrhosis. At one point, he was so ill that the hospital issued a critical condition notice after he vomited blood. "The negative thought was if I could die like that, it wouldn't matter." His life had reached such despair, but after finding faith and joining Adullam Home, he rediscovered a path and strength in life. In fact, "when one person uses drugs, the whole family suffers." By being completely free from drugs' gripping, Mr. Zhong not only regained his life but also saved his family, highlighting the importance of the social support system. (Photo by Lin Ying-cheng)