Our Team

Rachel grew up in Fayetteville and has developed strong roots here. It's here that she attended Grace College of Divinity where she graduated with honors and received several academic awards.

Over the years, Rachel has also served her community by working for Manna Church as director of RUSH Campus Ministries. Since then RUSH has helped positively impact thousands of students throughout Cumberland County and beyond.

She is now the full time owner of Alpha and Omega Dance Academy which recently got voted Fayetteville’s best dance studio by the Fayetteville Observer!

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Rachel now lives in Raeford, NC with her husband Andrew and is honored to serve on the board of Noonday Kitchen and excited for the impact that Noonday will make.

Wayne, who hails from New Jersey is a tenured songwriter and worship leader that has had the opportunity lead worship around the world. 
Wayne’s career in songwriting has granted him the opportunity to have several songs published by professional record labels like Integrity Music and has gotten the opportunity to sing with Darlene Zschech on various occasions. In his career he also made several TV appearances on Canada’s 100 Huntley Street and has also appeared on TBN which is broadcasted worldwide.

In 2003, Wayne along with his wife Rachel and children moved from Nashville, TN to Fayetteville, NC where he joined the staff at Manna Church. For almost 10 years, Wayne served as worship pastor and has since served as the Manna Church Cliffdale Site pastor. Today Wayne serves as Manna’s senior ministry pastor titled “Manna Legends” and pastoral care along with being a board member for Noonday Kitchen.

Wynn Nichols was raised in Hope Mills and attended East Carolina University where she obtained her teaching degree. When she married her husband, Craig, they both moved to Okinawa, Japan where he was stationed during his military service.

In 1996, Wynn and Craig returned to fort Bragg where she continued to teach with Cumberland County Schools. After 37 years of teaching elementary school, she retired in 2019. Wynn then joined the SERVE team at the Dream Center where she was able to connect with Noonday Kitchen founder, Claudia Perez. 

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Helping those in need brings a real sense of purpose to her life and is honored to be a part of Claudia's endeavor to feed the hungry.

Tabatha and Howard are both North Carolina natives, and have been active servants within their communities for years. Their involvement in local church, business, and military communities have led them to take consistent roles in outreaches that have continued to impact the city.  Throughout this, our team at Noonday Kitchen has had the enormous privilege of crossing paths with them and inviting them to be a part of our board of directors.

These two are not only incredibly servant hearted but also immensely accomplished. Tabatha received her B.S. in Psychology and Masters in Social Work from Fayetteville State University; Howard has also had a 28-year career as a professional driver for local airports, Budget, and Federal Express where he now holds a lead management position for FedEx Ground.

Both of these amazing individuals have expressed through word and through action, their understanding of how important it is to give back and support their communities and we are so grateful to have them on our team.