BOISE, Idaho - Most people know chef Lou Aaron for his
culinary mastery, including the Idaho Ice Cream Potato that
draws crowds to his Westside Drive-in, a nationally
recognized establishment given five stars on the Food
Network's "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives."
What most don't know is that Aaron's Catholic faith is a key
ingredient in all parts of his life as he approaches
ordination to the permanent diaconate.
It's because of his faith that Aaron has provided food to
needy people outside of a Catholic Worker-inspired shelter in
Boise as well as families in need of a meal that gain the
notice of a local pastor. He has spearheaded fundraising
events for schools, parishes and community organizations.
And at Westside Drive-in, he likes to hire people whom most
employers would consider at-risk: the homeless and former
prison inmates among them. It's part of the family-like
atmosphere he promotes in the business he has owned since
1994.
"We hire a lot of people who are at the end of their rope. I
see it as a way to give hope to those who feel hopeless," he
said.
If people feel valued, they will work hard, Aaron believes,
and people who lack skills can learn. But he has found that
he cannot provide motivation for anyone who doesn't see their
work as a vocation.
"I hire people off the effort they want to put in, to let
them go as far as their efforts can take them," he said.
Such a belief in the human spirit has guided Aaron's life,
even when he stopped practicing his Catholic faith at age 19,
a year after his 1980 graduation from Boise's Bishop Kelly
High School.
It took a devastating fire that destroyed his family's home
and their belongings in 1996 to get him back to the church.
"The Holy Spirit came with fire and burned my house down,"
Aaron recalled. "We lost everything. That was the defining
moment when we decided to go back to the Catholic Church."
For six months, the family dealt with the trauma of having
escaped only with their lives, with the children coping with
nightmares and other stresses. "Those were the toughest six
months of our lives, but God gave us an opportunity to change
our lives and we did," Aaron said.
Around 2002, he started to feel that he might have a vocation
to the diaconate. However, instead of discerning the call, he
dismissed it. Looking back, Aaron said, his actions reminded
him of Charlton Heston as Moses in the movie classic, "The
Ten Commandments."
"I went back to Exodus and read the story in detail. Five
times, God told Moses He wanted him to go and save His
people. Five times, Moses said, 'No.' Then, God got angry,
and Moses finally gave in," Aaron said.
"I kept telling God, 'No,' but then it hit me four years ago,
and I said 'Yes,'" he recounted. "I mentioned it to my
pastor, Msgr. (Dennis) Wassmuth, and he said, 'What took you
so long?' A lot of people were seeing it before me."
Preparing food has been a nearly lifelong passion for Aaron.
He began working in restaurants as a teenager and apprenticed
at several in Boise before graduating from the American
Culinary Federation's Chef Apprenticeship program in 1984.
The following year, he met his wife, Renee, and they were
married in 1987. He worked several years for the Hilton Corp.
in San Antonio, and was featured on the PBS television series
"Great Chefs of the West." In 1989, he returned to Boise as a
corporate chef before buying Westside Drive-in five years
later.
Along the way, he has not feared hiring people who many would
never consider for work. He knows that nearly 80 percent of
the hires will end up not working out - at least the first
time. He has hired one person nearly 20 times during the past
17 years. An alcoholic, the worker stays sober for a few
months before he starts drinking again, gets in trouble and
goes back to prison. The man, currently in prison, will be
rehired after he serves his current sentence, if he asks for
his job back.
"You don't ever give up on somebody," Aaron said. "You never
know if this will be the time he stays sober."
The restaurateur is a recovering alcoholic himself, so he
understands the struggles his employees go through. "We all
fail. We all fall down," he said. "God just wants us to get
back up again."
Since entering studies for the diaconate in 2012, Aaron has
questioned his own worthiness and experienced self-doubt, but
now he feels ready to serve God in this new ministry.
In November, Aaron received surprising news after a series of
unrelated health tests revealed he had follicular lymphoma, a
slow-growing but incurable cancer. "When you hear the word
(cancer), immediately everything changes," Aaron said.
His doctors wanted to begin immediate treatment, but they
sent Aaron for a second opinion to the Seattle Cancer Care
Alliance. Physicians there, based on his lack of symptoms,
suggested instead that he monitor the progression of the
disease through quarterly blood tests every three months and
semiannual CT scans.
Aaron said he is not afraid to talk about the cancer, because
it provides him with another opportunity to share his faith
message.
"I know God is actively working through me," he added. "I'm
just going where the Lord wants me to go with it."
Brown is editor of the Idaho Catholic Register, newspaper of
the Boise Diocese.