August 10, 2021 at 8:43 p.m.
ONE SOUPED-UP MINISTRY
ONE SOUPED-UP MINISTRY
It’s all a part of the church’s latest ministry, “Soup for Seniors.” On the first Friday of each month, volunteers make a gallon of soup — or salads in the summer — to distribute to seniors in the parish and throughout the local community.
“We have a very loving and caring and generous parish,” said Peggy McQuade, pastoral associate for the hospitality ministry. “Everybody enjoys helping others.”
“The St. Matthew’s community is one of those parishes that has a great community,” said Father Rick Lesser, pastor. “This started a while ago and it just blossomed.”
The “Soup for Seniors” idea actually began a few years ago with soup suppers every Friday during Lent. “It was a simple soup supper,” said McQuade, “then we started doing soups on Ash Wednesday and Good Friday.” Then, the ministry shut down when COVID-19 hit in March of last year.
McQuade got the idea to do takeout soups instead as a way to keep the ministry alive during a hard time, especially for many seniors who were struggling with the isolation of quarantine. As the ministry grew, McQuade reached out to parishioner Debra Engel, the senior outreach liaison for the Town of New Scotland, about helping distribute soups to seniors in the community. Engel was thrilled with the plan.
“It was perfect,” she said. “Just for seniors to know people are thinking about them. What a great way to reach out to people.”
Every soup comes in its own carryout bag, enclosed with a side of Italian bread and a prayer card with the meal. Volunteers have free reign over the soup they make and have offered a number of delicious flavors such as fish or clam chowder, vegetable, pea, corn and roasted tomato soup.
In the summer months, the ministry switches to “Salads for Seniors,” making and distributing pasta salads when it is hotter. “Some come with meat, some have tuna macaroni, some use different cheeses or a variety (of cheeses),” McQuade said. “It’s like a potluck. We’re leaving it up to the person’s creativity.”
Around 16 parishioners sign up to help each month, but many hands make light work. Lampman and Marks arrive at the parish a little before 8 a.m. on Friday to divide up the soups or salads into takeout containers and bags. A separate section is made for Engel, who arrives later to pack up her car for the delivery. The two are wrapped up in just over an hour’s work, right in time for seniors to swing by after morning Mass, which many attend.
“To me we’ve been reading recently in the Gospel about the bread of life, and this — doing this ministry — is the real bread of life,” Lampman said.
“I’ve known Peggy since we were kids, so when she put this out there, I joined,” Marks added. “I love to cook and I can make soups!”
Engel is a one-woman show for the seniors outside of the parish; driving around town to various adult nursing facilities and loading up her arms with bags of soup or salad containers. She estimates over 2,000 senior citizens live in New Scotland and has met close to a third of them over her three years at the job.
“A lot of these people don’t have a lot of income or a lot of family,” she said. “I just want to make sure people are taken care of. It’s a community effort, but Peggy really hit this one on the head. We’ve never had anything like this before.”
As long as the people are willing, McQuade hopes the ministry will continue into the cooler months and transition back into soups.
“One of the insights I’ve had from doing this is that capable people coming together to do a little bit multiplies the loaves and fishes,” added Lampman. “Jesus fed the 5,000, and after working on all these soups, it was like that was right there in front of us.”
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