April 6, 2018 at 1:53 p.m.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Manna meals draw Catholic volunteers
Our Lady of Hope parish in Fort Plain and St. Thomas the Apostle parish in Cherry Valley both send helpers to the Saturday "manna meal" at Fort Plain Reformed Church - which still sees more guests than it did before 2013 floods displaced more than 1,000 Fort Plain residents (read a previous story at www.evangelist.org).
Our Lady of Hope has participated in serving the meals for years, but the floods were an impetus for St. Thomas' involvement. Ironically, there are now so many volunteer groups competing for time at the soup kitchen that they have to take turns cooking and serving.
St. Thomas' volunteers have gone twice and hope to go at least once a year in the future.
"You see that people on the streets are just like us," said Karen Walker, parish life coordinator for St. Thomas. "You just never know."
Hometown help
In the past, St. Thomas' outreach efforts included donating money or food to the Fulmont Community Action Agency, Inc., food pantry, but the lack of a soup kitchen in Cherry Valley meant St. Thomas parish sent its teenagers to Schenectady's food sites when they were looking for service projects.
Pitching in at the Fort Plain site is "helping the people in our own neighborhood," Mrs. Walker said.
At a manna meal in August, 13 St. Thomas parishioners made chicken pot pie and tuna and beef casseroles and provided fruit salad, dessert and drinks for more than 50 guests.
"It was a very good day," Mrs. Walker said, recalling that they found a candle and a cupcake for a little boy celebrating his second birthday. "It takes a lot of planning."
One of the guests was a veteran who had just returned from Afghanistan and was notified that day that his friends still on active duty were under fire. He approached the three parish teens present, "not looking for a lunch, but someone to pray with him," Mrs. Walker said. "It was just so moving. It made such an impression - more than serving lunch to people."
The teens took the names of the soldiers and their address, made cards and passed them around to be signed the next day at the parish's coffee hour.
Bonding time
Our Lady of Hope parishioners feel a similar camaraderie with the people they serve: The eight regular volunteers tend to mingle with the guests when they're done serving. The group's last visit was October; parishioners try to go every other month.
"Anyone who's ever done it usually wants to get involved and do it again," said Kristine Kirkpatrick, the volunteer coordinator for the parish. "You just get a really good feeling when you do it. The people that are there are so appreciative."
Mrs. Kirkpatrick and her husband have been volunteering for 10 years; she says the soup kitchen has been around for about 13 years. Last year, it switched to buffet-style service and eliminated Sunday lunch, but started distributing takeout meals in addition to Saturday lunch.
"A lot of things changed with the flood," Mrs. Kirkpatrick said.
Crowd-pleasers
Volunteer groups can bring food to serve, use the food pantry's stores or shop at the local supermarket on the soup kitchen's tab. Our Lady of Hope volunteers bring salads, fruits and beverages and cook crowd favorites like lasagna, macaroni and cheese or chicken and biscuits with potatoes and green beans.
"I tell my helpers, 'It's like a big graduation party,'" Mrs. Kirkpatrick said, adding that volunteers are trying to encourage the guests to participate more in cooking and cleanup.
"It's kind of nice to see the consumers help clean up, be part of it, come in the kitchen with us," she said. "The goal is to not just make them dependent on us, but make them self-sufficient."[[In-content Ad]]
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