Tom Nale and grandson Tommy Nale, 5, both of Waterville, sit together Thursday at Mezza, The Lebanese Bakery in Waterville. The pair are shown with “MEZZA, The Lebanese Bakery: Middle Eastern Cuisine,” created by Nale and featuring his mother’s recipes. Nale is the owner of Mezza, which features Middle Eastern cuisine and casual dining. Rich Abrahamson/Morning Sentinel

Tom Nale walked into the Waterville Area Soup Kitchen Wednesday and handed over $100 he received from the sale of his cookbook featuring family recipes.

“They were thrilled,” he recalled.

Nale, 76, had worked for about a year to put together the 17-page booklet with recipes from his mother, Caroline, who died in 2008. Dedicated to her, it is titled “MEZZA, The Lebanese Bakery: Middle Eastern Cuisine.”

But it was only recently that he decided to give all proceeds from the book to the soup kitchen at 38 College Ave. in Waterville. He is part of a group that has been debating how the city can best balance the needs of homeless people with the needs of downtown businesses. Some businesses have experienced problems with homeless people and others asking their customers for money, committing criminal mischief, taking part in drug activity and in some cases, breaking into buildings.

Nale himself had been a target, when people broke into one of his vacant downtown buildings and were squatting there. He called police and then cleaned up the mess, which included needles used for injecting drugs.

Nale earlier this year opened MEZZA in the former Lebanese Cuisine eatery space at 34 Temple St., which serves many of the dishes his mother created when he was a child growing up on nearby Front Street. His mother raised him and five siblings by herself and they were poor, he said, but they always had food to eat. She and her siblings had been born and lived at Head of Falls, nearby on the banks of the Kennebec River, where homeless people now often congregate.

“I was tied to her apron, and the kitchen,” Nale recalled of his mother. “When I cook now, I always put on the apron that she wore. There were two things that I asked my family for when she died: I wanted her apron and I wanted her rolling pin, and I have both.”

A former Waterville mayor, retired district court judge and lawyer who recently was asked to go back to work on child protective custody cases because of the need, Nale also is a new member of the city’s Planning Board. His life’s work has been all about deliberating and making impactful decisions.

While thinking about the homeless in Waterville, he opted to take part in discussions to help identify the problems and help find solutions. He also decided to sell copies of his cookbook and give all proceeds to the soup kitchen.

He placed copies of the booklet at MEZZA, as well as Joseph’s Market on Front Street, and people have been buying them for $15 each, he said. Recipes for cabbage rolls, stuffed grape leaves, tabbouleh, cooked kibbe and Easter cookies are among those featured in the book.

Wednesday was the first time Nale visited the soup kitchen, and was moved by what he saw.

“When I was in there yesterday to give them the proceeds, my heart was broken,” he said. “They were doing such a wonderful job. There were folks in there playing cards and keeping warm. I think before we cast the first stone, we should visit these folks. Let’s do what we can as a community to take care of them — because they’re one of us and we’re one of them.”

Nale’s grandparents came to the U.S. from Lebanon. They and other relatives, family and friends lived at Head of Falls before the tenement houses were torn down many years ago. The families included that of former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell. Nale’s grandmother’s sister, Mintaha, was George Mitchell’s mother. George’s brother, Paul, was Nale’s godfather and his godmother was Rosemary Baldacci, mother to former Gov. John Baldacci.

The large, tight-knit family has always been generous to those less fortunate. And Nale is just carrying on that tradition of giving back. A noble venture, especially at Christmastime.

Amy Calder has been a Morning Sentinel reporter 35 years. Her columns appear here Saturdays. She is the author of the book, “Comfort is an Old Barn,” a collection of her curated columns, published in 2023 by Islandport Press. She may be reached at acalder@centralmaine.com. For previous Reporting Aside columns, go to centralmaine.com