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Chillin' Wit' George and Kim Mickel, owners of Reading Terminal eateries

Hunger Burger and By George! proprietors spend Sunday morning at Kingsway Church in Cherry Hill talking about what inspires them.

Part of the proceeds from Kim and George Mickel's new Hunger Burger "patty with a purpose" goes toward feeding a child in need.
Part of the proceeds from Kim and George Mickel's new Hunger Burger "patty with a purpose" goes toward feeding a child in need.Read moreMorgan Zalot/Staff

Editor's note: Chillin' Wit' is a regular Monday feature of the Daily News that spotlights a name in the news away from the job.

EVEN ON A SUNDAY, Kim and George Mickel are on a mission.

The longtime owners of Reading Terminal Market's By George eatery recently opened Hunger Burger in the market, with part of the proceeds from each "patty with a purpose" going to feed a child in need. When they take a break, it's at their Cherry Hill church, reflecting on what inspired them to sell burgers for a bigger cause.

"On Day 3 [after opening Hunger Burger], we were walking to the car, and we were dying" of exhaustion, Kim, who turned 48 on Saturday, says as she sits in a spring breeze outside Kingsway Church on Chapel Avenue. She's been a member since 1989, and her husband of 25 years has worshipped there all his life. "And I said, 'Just think how many kids were fed.' "

That's what keeps them going, the Mickels say. During a break in yesterday's services - Kim helps out by monitoring the hall outside the rooms where young kids learn and play while their parents worship - the couple admires photos on the church lobby's wall depicting kids in El Salvador.

The Mickels know the kids smiling in the pictures: They've been going on mission trips to the Central American nation every year since 2008. The children they've watched grow up there are like family to them now.

"They're just so grateful," says George, 55, a Camden native who grew up in Philly. "That's why we go back. You just can't help but say, 'I'm going to do everything I can.' "

The Salvadoran children inspire them to give part of Hunger Burger's proceeds to feed children locally, nationally and globally. Each burger sold means a meal for a hungry child.

As rock music - played by a band with electric guitars and a keyboard - pipes out of the church auditorium, Kim chimes in: "The benefit we get from going down there far outweighs what we're doing" for them.

For the Mount Laurel, N.J., couple and their four kids, who range in age from 18 to 24, relationships and giving back are what church and life - and, now, business - are all about.

-Morgan Zalot