Sister's soups warm hearts and tummies of recovering patients

There's a temptation to label it a variation on the "Chicken Soup For The Soul" theme. Known by parishioners of Albany's St. Vincent de Paul Church simply as "Sister Eleanor's Chicken Soup Ministry," it's designed to warm the hearts and tummies of newly discharged hospital patients.

Cooked up by pastoral associate Sister Eleanor Guerin, RSM, the kitchen-based outreach program is quickly stirring up interest on the part of soup-makers who want to share recipes not just for chicken soup, but also those prepared from other ingredients -- such as holiday turkeys!

Sister Eleanor, who confesses she doesn't personally don a chef's cap very often, got the idea for her ministry after remembering how a Mercy nun named Sister Lucia used to bring chicken soup to shut-ins of Holy Cross parish many years ago.

Ingredient: Idea

"Sister Lucia, who has since retired, had a wonderful pastoral outreach ministry back in the early '70s that included bringing soup to the elderly parishioners she visited," recalls Sister Eleanor.

"I'd almost forgotten about Sister Lucia's wonderful chicken soup ministry until I brought communion to an elderly parishioner one day in October. I thought: `Wouldn't it be nice if I could bring food for the body and the soul at the same time?' That's when I decided to ask our parishioners to help."

Specifically, Sister Eleanor requested that a small item be placed in the parish bulletin to ask interested parties to add their names to a list of people who might be willing to prepare soup for newly discharged hospital patients. Before long, Sister had the names of 10 people willing to perform occasional KP duty for fellow church members who were unable to do so themselves. Volunteers included men as well as women, lay people and religious.

Sippers

Those who have recently been discharged from St. Peter's Hospital or Albany Medical Center are most likely to be served by St. Vincent's Chicken Soup Ministry, although parishioners leaving other area hospitals may also benefit as will other homebound individuals.

"The program is so new that we still have some details to iron out. Right now, we're still in the process of securing heavy paper cups with lids that will facilitate storage and delivery of our soup," said Sister Eleanor, an environmentalist who insists that styrofoam containers not be used.

"Ideally, I'm hoping to give volunteers three to four days notice that a parishioner is about to be released from the hospital so they will have time to prepare their soup," she explained. "Some have specialties they like to make from scratch; others keep broth or stock in the freezer and just need to add noodles or rice and vegetables. There's sure to be lots of variety of the program evolves."

Other ministries

When not busy cooking up ideas to help ailing parishioners, Sister Eleanor can be found working on the Faith Formation program she coordinates for St. Joseph's Church in Rensselaer or polishing presentations for her "Spirituality Without Walls" programs.

Developed two years ago, Sister Eleanor calls the latter "a spiritual and personal development freelance ministry" that includes retreats, evenings of prayer and facilitating discernments.

(Anyone interested in learning more about Sister Eleanor's Chicken Soup Ministry or Spirituality Without Walls can call 489-5408 or 489-7302.)

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