Douglas Spikes

Douglas Spikes prepared his first meal at the tender age of 8, after studying his mother and grandfather in the kitchen. Almost 30 years later, he is poised to become Head Cook and Onsite Manager at Amos House’s new Friendship Café. The café at 500 Broad Street will open early next year as an expansion of Amos House’s thriving catering business.

“If you asked me ten years ago if I’d be doing this, I would say no,” said Spikes, a single father raising two daughters. “But I actually ‘found’ myself at Amos House.”

Born in Boston and raised in Attleboro, MA, Spikes said he began selling drugs when he was 15 years old and eager for quick cash. He described his teenage years as a period of “drugs, guns, and irresponsibility.” As a young adult Spikes became homeless because he had no vision for his future. “I didn’t want to work or do something with my life,” he confessed. He came to Amos House in 1992 in search of a place to live with one of his daughters. Soon his cooking talent was discovered and he was hired as Assistant Chef at the dining hall, but lost his job due to “unreliability.”

It was spending time at the ACI prison that changed his outlook and priorities. “Someone there asked me what I cared about most. I said ‘My children,’ “Spikes recalled. So after his release he reconnected with Amos House for support. Eventually he secured a job as a dishwasher in the kitchen.

“Now I was willing to accept responsibility, that I had to be a grown up,” Spikes said. “I had to get to work everyday, get a paycheck. I had to grow up out of my past.”

With encouragement from co-workers he also applied to the Amos Culinary Education Program, ACE. For the next 12 weeks, Spikes worked early mornings at the dining hall. Then he went to classes and returned to the kitchen to finish the lunch shift. He graduated from ACE in 2006 and after several months became an assistant chef again. During the last two years Spikes has helped to prepare meals, design menus, oversee volunteers, manage inventory, and food shop for Amos House’s soup kitchen.

“I just kept working and was willing to do the next step and move ahead,” he explained. His hard work and diligence paid off, eventually leading to the job at the Friendship Café. Spikes is thrilled about the opportunity and the chance to receive more training in the field. “We want people to come from all over for our fine food, hospitality and cozy environment. We hope when people leave, they’ll bring others back,” he said.

Today Spikes is clear about his life goals: “I want to be one of the finest managers in Providence. I want to be a positive role model.”