Did a 'soup kitchen' lunch today

[moopups]

Not by choice, my neighbor, "J" chose to take me there. He offered to take me there, I declined in that, that stuff is for the needy persons, I followed him to this place, in my own vehicle, knowing that my next association was to be with the feed store people where I purchased feed for the landlords animals. I had clearance to do such. The Visa is strained right now.

The meal was lasagna (is that an actual word?). Salad, undressed, two cups of sugar sweetened iced tea, where the ice? Two baked goodies of bleached flour, topped with sugar. And a container of some kind of whipped soy based margine. there was soup that appeared to be collards and chicken, a non substance in my opinion.

At least I now know where to get substance if the situation becomes vile. This a local service of the Catholic Church, not to be found in other churches at this time, that I am aware of.

Neighbor 'J' is an employ of that not to be mentioned store, the graveyard shift, he is slightly above minimum wage laws, he sleeps during the day and works at night. The wages are not enough for him to buy food regularly. Another neighbor supplies the feed for his dog, that is not uncommon in the South. He is from NYC, a place of non caring individuals, as he states. His words, not mine.

Isn't it time for this situtation to change?

[AngieM2]

What did you eat of it?

Just curious cause most of it sounds pretty healthy and filling.
Angie

[tamatik]

at 16 yrs I ate at the "mission" a salvation army place..it was what was needed at the time.Nuthin fancy but OK.

[RoseGarden]

Yeah, lasagna is a word, a very good word! It sounds like a pretty balanced meal. What were the goodies, donuts? It's wonderful that a church has meal services like that for people who need it. I learned a very long time ago to 'never say never', and found myself in some very dire straits before. Now I do what I can to help out with our church food drives. And believe me when I say that most churches really want to help people. The caring is genuine. I help with mine because I don't like the thought of people being hungry, especially kids and babies.

Sorry to hear of your neighbor J's situation. It's good though that someone is helping him out, and his dog, too.

[fordson major]

glad that there is somewhere for people to go, chopping wood for your dinner is a thing of the past. everyone there has a past and a future. we help with gathering food for the local pantry (too rural too have a kitchen), pay it forward, never know when a freight trains coming round the corner.

we have one of those unmentionable stores heading to a rural town near us. doubt we will shop there much, don't now.

[sancraft]

Mitch, it actually sounds better for you than the greasy breakfast you had the other day. I've worked the soup kitchens before. They do the best they can.

[Trixie]

My daughter and son in law are some of those non-caring NY people who spent their Saturday cooking, serving and cleaning up after a meal for the homeless. There are 4 churches that each take a Saturday.

Also, I witnessed a lot of feeding of the homeless in NY.

There is a specialty soup and sandwich shop that puts out containers of soup and wrapped sandwiches every night, along with nice napkins and some plastic utensils.

The first time I noticed food being put out, I saw a large clear plastic bag full of nice bread and rolls. While I was staring at all that food going to waste I saw a lady come up, roll the bag around and look at the contents, then open it, gently tied, and reached in to get herself about a half dozen rolls, without touching any others - then gently tied the bag and put it back in place.

Some put food out near the curb and some put it near the store.

I do admit this is in a fairly nice part of town. I don't know how they treat them in other parts of the city.

[Slev]

These are hard times, maybe you could help him out by keeping an eye peeled for a better job for him? My son can only find part-time work. Seems that most places only want to hire part time to avoid benefits. He is 19, tried college, (so he has 10,000 debt to pay out right away) and no health insurance.

On the flip side, we have friends who, he is retired from a large refinery, very large! He was a buyer, and retired WELL...! They shop the Good Will stores and cheaper food stores and those dollar stores to buy things. All of that is good I guess, it saves them money. But while she was taking a class out at the local college, she attended a swap that was intended for poor college students, like unwed mothers trying to get their life back in order type thing, she picked up several items and claimed to have only spent $1.00! "on all of this stuff, look at the bargain I found!"

[Ardie/WI]

Gosh, that sounds like a pretty balanced meal to me! Better than that greasey breakfast that was posted the other day.!

One never knows when their next meal will be from a church. A friend of mine from Louisiana was helping with the evacuees during the Katrina cleanup and by the next week, she became an evacuee. She was darn happy for any food at all!

[Terri]

I SUSPECT that the "change" that Moopup was referring to was that people who work full time SHOULD be able to afford to eat.

Out of such philosophies came the minimum wage law.

[Cindy in NY]

Originally Posted by Terri

I SUSPECT that the "change" that Moopup was referring to was that people who work full time SHOULD be able to afford to eat.

Out of such philosophies came the minimum wage law.

Our church donates to the local food pantry. Most of their clients are folks that work full time but do not have enough money to last them the month.

[FourDeuce]

Back in my former hometown, there is a "soup kitchen" ran by the Catholic church, that got such a reputation for it's food that people go out of their way to eat there. The way it works is, you go though the serving line, eat, then put whatever you can afford into the donation box at the exit. If you can afford nothing you pay nothing

One of the ladies that volunteers told me that most days there are atleast a couple $100 bills in the box. They actually have funds above and beyond the overhead, that goes into the charities fund. Great for playing it forward

Hugs
Marlene