A soup kitchen for all: Assumption Community Soup Kitchen celebrates 1 year of operation
Volunteers hard at work in the kitchen
A calling of sorts
About a year ago during Lent, Christine Behan was listening to these 2-minute Matthew Kelly videos that she receives via email every day, and on this one Sunday, the message was about feeding the hungry. She then went to church, and the homily that day given by Father Teeporten, was about feeding the hungry. At the time, she was also reading Pope Francis’ book “The Church of Mercy,” and in it, you guessed it, his message that day was, feed the hungry. Christine then went to her book club that week and they were talking about feeding the hungry there.
She felt like she was being smacked on the side of the head with a message–so she thought a lot about it, and thought about how she could do something within our community. She talked with the ladies in her book club first; they were really supportive and thought a soup kitchen would be great idea.
How it all began
Christine started out by volunteering with the Seventh Day Adventist soup kitchen on Thursdays when she could, to learn about how they do things. They run a remarkable program that both clothes people, and feeds them. She said she has nothing but admiration for the small amount of people that put all of that together every week. They were very supportive of her, and agreed that Powell River needed more access to food for people.
There was nothing happening in town on Fridays, so she thought that would be a good day for it. The Seventh Day Adventist Church is supplied food from Safeway and Save-On Foods, so that meant she needed to find another food source. She mentioned this on a run with her running partner, Gerrimae Sepkowski, and right away, she said that she wanted to be a part of it. Sepkowki said she may be able to supply some fish through her connections with Coast Fish Culture.
A place for everyone
At this point, Christine brought it up with her pastor at Assumption Church to see if this was something that the church would like to be a part of, with respect to donating the hall each week. Her vision for the soup kitchen was that it would not be a strictly Catholic venture, but that it would be a place to bring together and help serve people from all denominations, as well as a gathering place for everyone, not just the needy of our community. She wanted it to be a place for people to come and socialize. The pastor was on board with this–so she spoke at mass one Sunday, and could not believe how many people volunteered. The soup kitchen currently has around 40 people on their volunteer list. As Christine has said, her cup over-floweth.
Gerriemae Sepkowski and Christine Behan
A supportive community
Then came the not-so-much-fun part: funding. Christine applied for grants from both First Credit Union and Westview Agencies, and both groups were incredibly supportive financially. She also received some very generous donations from some private sources, as well as the Catholic Women’s League. She then approached Peter Mitchell from Mitchell Brothers, and he was incredibly supportive of the idea, and has been an amazing support ever since. Each week, Mitchell Brothers supplies the soup kitchen with vegetables for the soup and salad, as well as many bread products.
One year anniversary
Christine started the soup kitchen April 17, 2015, so today is the one year anniversary! It has been so much more than she ever could have hoped for. People from all walks of life come to break bread together. She stated that it’s amazing the things that you can learn from each other if you are just willing to lend an ear.
There are three people who coordinate the cooking end of things: Behan herself, Gerrimae Sepkowski, and Magda Graff, and they seem to get along swimmingly. There are always at least two more people each week to help with all the chopping, slicing, and dicing. They also have Cathy Greiner in charge of setting up along with her crew, and Pat Clarke, who coordinates the clean up each week. Again, Christine says the number of volunteers make it so easy, and not too onerous for any one person.
Christine’s message that she would like people to get from this story, is that when you trust in that little voice in your head and do the things that you feel you were meant to do, it can all come together so easily. Not once did she feel overwhelmed by any of it, and she still gets way more out of what they are doing, than what she puts in. She feels blessed that she was able to get this program up and running, and even more blessed by being able to spend time with all the volunteers and the patrons of the Assumption Community Soup Kitchen.
Congratulations on one year of the soup kitchen, Christine!
If after reading this, you’re interested in attending or volunteering, here are the details:
Assumption Catholic Church, St. Joseph’s Hall
7109 Glacier St.
Every Friday from 12:00pm-1:00pm
(604) 485-5300
Wesley Behan
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