Strength is...
Inside You
Corrie Lingenfelter says she was “taken aback, very surprised and honored” to learn she was nominated as a 2022 Susquehanna Style Woman of Strength.
“I pride myself on being a woman of strength, but to actually get an award for it—I was like, ‘Wow,’” says the 32-year-old Carlisle resident.
Lingenfelter’s name and identity, to many, is “Chef Corrie.” A Bedford-area native, she launched her culinary career at the exclusive Omni Bedford Springs Resort.
“I was the fine dining chef, which started me on this journey of what I thought I wanted to do. It’s a great lifestyle you’re opened up to, cooking for celebrities,” says Lingenfelter, whose next stop was Harvest, within the Hotel Hershey.
“Then I kind of got burned out,” says Lingenfelter, who returned to school, refocused on public relations, and launched a new position running the office and social media for Downtown Daily Bread. The nonprofit soup kitchen and night shelter for homeless men is a mission of Harrisburg’s Pine Street Presbyterian Church. That was June of 2018. But two days before Thanksgiving, the cook quit. When her director appealed to Lingenfelter, as a former chef, she stepped up to the plate—and the rest is history.
“I had never cooked that way before—a lot more high-volume—but it opened me up to a sense of community. I had to pivot, but I fell in love with being able to feed people and being a resource for the community,” Lingenfelter reflects. “It made my life more purposeful.”
Today, she cooks for as many as 150 people daily. In the open-concept kitchen, she knows every guest by name. Her stuffed French toast casserole is a breakfast favorite, while chicken corn soup is one of her popular comfort food lunches.
Lingenfelter has racked up awards and honors, from winning The Central PA Chopped Competition to publishing a cookbook, “Feeding the People,” to share her recipes with other soup kitchen chefs.
Simultaneously, Lingenfelter juggled motherhood, becoming a teen mother at the age of 17.
“Even as a pastor’s kid myself, it was very hard,” Lingenfelter says. “My daughter is now a freshman in high school, and she’s a blessing, my focal point. My parents were very big on generational wealth, and it’s an everyday legacy I continue to leave for her—she loves to cook with me. Being a mother is one of the hardest careers—the most challenging, yet most rewarding.”
And Lingenfelter has a new goal: She founded The Lynn Project, a nonprofit community food pantry.
“My father has passed away, but both of our middle names were Lynn,” she explains.
Strength, to Lingenfelter, means “pulling from your inner self to get things done. As women, we’re never off the clock. There’s an inner voice that says, ‘OK girl, you got this.’”
For more info, see downtowndailybread.org. “Feeding the People” is available on Amazon.
