Welcome Home

In May of 1995 Leigh-Ann and I were newly married and moved into our home on the North Side of Syracuse. The experience of being new homeowners in the inner city of Syracuse brought a surprising realization that we were living in an area where human trafficking was occurring.

Over the last 27 years of living in a tough part of town, we knew that we had been planted here to see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears the suffering of the woman in our neighborhood.

Leigh-Ann and I have always had a heart for the women we saw on the street and wanted to serve them but never knew how or if we could. Little did we know, God had a plan that birthed In My Father’s Kitchen in 2011 serving the homeless of CNY.

We then expanded our programming in 2019 to assist panhandlers with our day labor program Hire Ground. Now in 2022, we are preparing to launch, Life House. Life House is a residential home for women who are escaping a life of human trafficking that has entangled them.

When we began serving those experiencing homelessness in 2011, we started seeing that many of the women had fallen into sex trafficking to survive the environment on the streets. We would see some of the women in our own neighborhood walking up and down the streets soliciting drivers or waiting for a pick-up. It was heartbreaking.

There were occasions Leigh-Ann would be waiting for me to pick her up for an appointment and while standing at the end of our own driveway cars would slow down thinking she was prostituting herself. In our neighborhood, watching the women solicit drivers is where the passion, vision, and dream began.

In 2016, God provided the first foundational piece to making this dream a reality. A house was gifted to IMFK and as soon as the house landed in our hands Leigh-Ann immediately knew we needed to create a home for women choosing to escape human trafficking.

Over the past 6 years, we have invested over $65,000 to renovate the house and make it a safe and welcoming home. We are excited to announce we will soon be opening our faith-based residential home, Life House.

This transforming program is for women who choose to escape human trafficking and the trauma that has entangled their lives. Life House offers 2 women a rent-free home to reside in with 24/7 staff to assist them as they reset, restore, rebuild, and relaunch into the community–experiencing the power, love, and freedom that can be found through Faith in God. The Life House staff will work toward helping these women learn to live and dream again.

We have had many of you ask, “How can we help?” We have 3 ways you can assist us in getting our program up and running:

· If you are a Person of Faith, Pray

a. We are currently in the interviewing process to hire our Resident Advocacy Team.

b. Life House requires people to pray for us and our residents daily. Pray for their breakthroughs and for the staff to have the clarity to help them in their journey to a new life.

· Become a Sponsor

a. All the pieces of this amazing program and the staff to support it

will be a large financial commitment for In My Father’s Kitchen. Please consider becoming a sponsor willing to invest in the lives of our residents.

· Sponsor a resident for 1 day: $90

· Sponsor a resident for 1 week: $630

· Sponsor a resident for one month: $2,700

· Sponsor a resident for one year: $33,000

· Purchase Items and Donate

a. In My Father’s Kitchen has created a Life House Wish List on amazon.com with items needed for our residents. All items purchased will be sent directly to In My Father’s Kitchen.

Please consider partnering with us online at www.inmyfatherskitchen.org or

Donate by mail, send your check or money order to PO Box 11328 Syracuse, NY 13218

Donations are tax-deductible – EIN# 45-2777205

Thank you in advance for your continued support of IMFK and its’ mission!

John and Leigh An Tumin0

Co-Founders