In the Kettering Health Operations Command Center (OCC), phones ring among conversations and the click of keyboards. Rows of computer screens cast blue light over the room. And a wall of TVs glow with weather forecasts, maps, and live streams of medical center security footage.

Standing in it, you might think you’ve wandered into one of NASA’s Mission Control centers. All except for the smell of wild rice soup sneaking in from the hall—which would lead you to Charlene Hess.

In the OCC’s kitchenette, Charlene closes the lid on her crockpot after giving the soup a stir. Behind her, a colleague pokes her head in, asking, “What are we making today, Ms. Char?”

A legacy of family and food

Charlene Hess, an on-time coordinator, joined Kettering Health in 2020—about the same time the pandemic led to the closing of her small Amish market in St. Parish, Ohio. “Ms. Char’s Market” offered some of Charlene’s greatest hits: stuffed burgers, pulled pork, chicken wings. But the real showstopper were her baked goods, a legacy she inherited from her grandmothers.

“I was lucky as a youngster that I had those interactions with my grandmothers,” Charlene says. “My mom’s mom made the best birthday cakes and lemon meringue pies. I came by it honestly.”

Her grandmothers are also why Charlene has always seen food and family go hand in hand. So when a co-worker reminisced one day in 2020 about a dish—wild rice soup—she enjoyed as a little girl, Charlene took note. “She told me, ‘My mom used to make that. She’s gone now, and I miss it so much,” Charlene recalls. The next day, Charlene brought a crockpot full of it.

Since then, Charlene has planned, cooked, and brought homemade meals to her co-workers at the OCC. One shift a week and on Saturdays. Most of the dishes still come from Charlene’s listening to others share a memory attached to a favorite meal. “It helps me get to know their background, how they grew up.” She even makes extra so the co-worker who inspired the dish can take some home.

Cooking up connection

It wasn’t long before others grew comfortable making requests for their favorites—chicken and noodles, chicken soup, Reubens, and carrot cake. Charlene welcomed it. She’s long known what good food can do beyond filling a stomach.

Charlene’s lunches break up the day for everyone. Instead of eating at their desks, now they follow the smell of her cooking and take a moment to eat and connect.

Which, for Charlene, is what it’s all about. “It brings us together. I do it because it leads to camaraderie.”

And it’s not gone unnoticed. “I have been lucky to have Charlene on my team over the last three years,” says Kevin Coffee, dispatch supervisor at the OCC. “The great thing about her kindness is she loves to see the smiles it brings to the staff.”

She does her best to make food everyone can enjoy. Thankfully, she says, everyone is up for trying anything. Especially by lunchtime.

“I love it when someone comes in and asks, ‘What do you have going on in here? We can smell it down the hall,” Charlene says. “For me, it shows them they’re genuinely cared for and appreciated.”

Soon, Charlene hopes to take her cooking on the road with a food truck—Char’s Kitchen. A reimagining of her market, where she can see her food help people connect and feel at home, even for just a moment.

But you don’t need to wait for Char’s Kitchen to roll up. If you’re at the OCC when Charlene is, especially on Saturdays, you’ll likely find the smell of shredded chicken or Jambalaya—and the chatter of colleagues gathered, enjoying a moment together.

Because for Charlene, that’s what it’s all about.