Have you ever worked at a free "soup kitchen"

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Have you ever worked at a soup kitchen?

I know people who work at a gospel soup kitchen.
Do you know people who do this?
 
I used to work with a family that did a lot of work at the soup kitchen. Our local Catholic church has a place where the hungry can go.
 
Our parish covers a couple of meals every week at the largest “soup kitchen” in town.
 
I used to help at our Parish soup kitchen when I was a teen.

I think it works well in metro areas but perhaps boxes of food are better in more rural parts.
 
My youth group would volunteer sometimes at the soup kitchen at a nearby city. It was run by a large church there. Sometimes we would help serve the people food, wipe down tables, carry away dirty dishes, etc. Other times, we would help organize, by getting rid of expired food on the shelves. Whatever they told us to do.

–edited to add-- the soup kitchen was run by a large Catholic church in the city. It wasn’t the biggest one-- I’m sure the cathedral and the basilica were bigger/more important-- but it always gave me an impression of being very thriving.
 
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I volunteered at one for a little bit in college, but they had an issue with me wearing my hijab, so I decided to work with Food Not Bombs instead and I actually like that much better.
 
We had our teens go regularly, It really brought home for them the plight of the homeless.
MAny fo the homeless men gave advice re: listening to your parents and not thinking you know everything at 15, and the homeless women and children made the girls stop an think about the importance of chastity, education, and what marriage really takes. They would beg us to allow them to go more than a couple times a year. They would have gone every Saturday if we could manage it, but the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception that hosts this has so many groups wanting to go that you have to sign up and they tell you when you can come, which amounts to a couple of time a year.
 
evangelical said:
Have you ever worked at a soup kitchen?

I know people who work at a gospel soup kitchen.

Do you know people who do this?
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Personally, no.

But you do know that there are a lot of Catholic feeding programs for the destitute too? It isn’t the exclusive franchise of our evangelical friends.
 
Yes, it is wonderful.

You get the opportunity of making or serving a meal to Jesus. How often does a person get that opportunity?
 
Yes, I volunteered at a Food Bank (Lutheran) for a few years. Volunteer organizations don’t always have the best structure in place - your partner doesn’t show or he/she quits and isn’t replaced for months, you don’t get important communications, etc. (having said that these issues come up in all organizations…) But I would say I enjoyed it overall. I can’t say it is a rewarding glow from helping people as that is not always as rosy as you think it will be sitting in your armchair with your Bible. But that’s life - that’s charity, right? It’s not about you. So, it’s a win win - you help others and do some good for yourself along the way. Humbling.
 
In that sense, they get a valuable opportunity for being “bad”. 🙂
 
I’ve volunteered at one - is that what you mean? Here in Colorado Springs, Catholic Charities operates the Marion House soup kitchen. They have successfully partnered with the community for decades to keep it staffed with volunteers. I’ve been there via work and church half a dozen times or more over the years.

You always meet interesting people. They often are staffed by folks who have been sentenced to community service. The people who work there (like, as a paid job), are very unique souls, and all the ones I’ve met are friendly.
 
To OP, I see you posted this in non-Catholic religions. Not quite sure of your reasoning in doing that.

I help at The Catholic Mission but non-Catholics can come and volunteer, too. I’m sure that would be the same wherever you are.

Also, down the street we have the “Rescue Mission” which is somewhat similar. It is Baptist based, and I’m pretty sure anyone could volunteer there, as well.
 
No.

But I volunteered for a multi-service center (not connected with any church) where one of the things they did was a soup kitchen.
 
I posted this on another thread, but yes - I work for one morning a week in our free food distribution service, which runs from the priest’s house. People come to the front door, ring the bell, we take their order (they have a choice of six different types of sandwiches, plus a hot or cold drink or soup, plus cake, crisps or biscuits) and then we bring that back to the door for them. We also get donated tinned and packet goods, and fruit which we give out when we have it. We don’t ask any questions, if people ask for food, they get food.

The whole service is financed through donations and all of us are volunteers. We make the sandwiches and get everything ready before every session. We are open Monday to Friday every week, two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. It’s a really good service and we get about 60-70 people a day coming for food, sometimes more.
 
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