Every day's a birthday party

I got to act silly yesterday.

I made funny faces and uttered strange sounds. But the 4-month-old infant enjoyed it, breaking into big smiles and flailing his arms. His light grey eyes locked on mine, curious and completely open.

I was privileged to be reduced to a babbling fool so that his mom could go get a tray of food. She returned with soup, sandwich and cookies, and was joined by two other women who fussed over the child.

Other volunteers mingled with the guests, chatting, saying how good it was to see them, and laughing. Kitchen volunteers occasionally helped guests with their trays – a young mother with kids, a scruffy older gentleman with a cane.

They were among the 85 guests Wednesday.

Watching over the dining room were two Vietnam vets – former Marines – who liked to jovially kibitz with guests, especially some of the men.

A little earlier the former Marines were bowing their heads in prayer, joining the other volunteers for a few minutes of spiritual reflection before opening the doors of the soup kitchen.

Joanne Lockwood, the volunteer daytime supervisor, read a spiritual passage about being content with what one has. Coveting what others have is not being content.

That thought “is anti-cultural” is today’s society, she said. We want more, we want bigger, we want better.

There was discussion of woes and ills afflicting the world – from selfishness to genocide. There’s a need for sacrificial love, one said. This soup kitchen is an example of sacrificial love for hungry neighbors.

Several spoke of how well the volunteer staff treats the guests. Like family.

“They’ve come to trust us,” one said.

“Some say they’ve never been treated so well,” another offered.

“As Franciscans,” Joanne added, “we try to give birth to Christ in everything we do. West Side Kitchen is showing the fruits of that.”

There’s joy, she said; there’s confidence building; there’s the Spirit.

“It’s as though we’re having a birthday party every day.”

Anything But Typical

Melissa McCann of Poland showed up to volunteer at the soup kitchen this past week, helping to prepare meals, greet guests and clean up tables.

It was her first day, but it was anything but typical. A WKTV News Channel 2 photojournalist and a WIBX radio reporter dropped by. So did Jan Squadrito from the Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, Inc.

Jan was there to take part in a ribbon-cutting and blessing for a new walk-in freezer – purchased with a grant from the Community Foundation.The news media were there to cover the event and interview Deacon Gil Nadeau about the growing populace that the soup kitchen feeds.

“We started out feeding 20 to 40 people a day,” he said. “Now we’re feeding 100 to 125 people a day.”

In the first six months since opening March 10, “we served 8,933 meals.”

The unemployed and working poor primarily comprise the guests. A good percentage may be homeless at any given time. (Another agency that Deacon Gil invited interviewed 60 of the guests one day and discovered that 17, or 27 percent, were in need of shelter.)

With the soup kitchen staffed by volunteers, and operating on donations of food and money, the walk-in freezer came at a critical moment. It enabled West Side Kitchen to accept more donations, and not turn any away due to lack of storage space. It also replaced two failing smaller residential freezers.

Donations keep coming. As do volunteers, who may commit to a day a month or every other week. Like Melissa, who spent the summer working at Water Safari in Old Forge after graduating from Holy Cross Academy in Oneida. She decided to take a semester off to experience life before heading off to college. And what does she do? Volunteer at Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen.

The Adventure Continues

The soup kitchen reached two milestones on Tuesday.

Volunteers served 117 lunches. A new record, according to Deacon Gil Nadeau.

And they pressed into service a new walk-in freezer, just as an upright unit and a chest freezer both failed. Talk about timing!

The walk-in unit was made possible by a $9,899 grant from The Community Foundation of Herkimer and Oneida Counties, Inc., and its Richard W. Couper Memorial Fund and Leroy and Hazel Scheidelman Fund.

Regarding the record number of guests, Deacon Gil noted: “They’re coming (because) they like the food. It’s good food.”

“They like the soup,” said volunteer Jim Caldwell.

“Everyday we’re seeing new faces,” added volunteer-supervisor Joanne Lockwood.

On Wednesday they served 96 meals, and among the volunteers were three young girls, busily sweeping the carpet, prepping trays, or helping moms with infants and strollers.

MacKenzie DeRyder, already a veteran volunteer at the age of 9, is quick to help out everywhere, but especially likes “bringing trays into the kitchen.”

Samantha Mussatto, 10, and her sister, Amanda, 7, were back. The pair accompanied their grandmother, Diane Hnat, SFO, when their school was on spring break in April. They came all the way from New Hampshire. Now that they are visiting grandma during summer vacation, they are coming to the soup kitchen a couple of days a week. The sisters are avid readers, bringing their books everywhere, but Wednesday they were too busy to immerse themselves in an imaginary tale.

“It’s great!” Amanda said.

Better Than Day Care!

With school in recess, summer has seen a jump in the number of children coming to Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen. Families sometimes take up half the dining area, and volunteers love to interact with smiling and giggling kids.

At the same time we are seeing more young folk wanting to volunteer at the soup kitchen.

Last Wednesday, for example, when we served 90 guests, three children were busily helping to serve drinks and preparing trays.

Alyssa Sharp, 12, who was all smiles at the beverage station, wouldn’t let a guest get by her without asking what he or she wanted to drink.

Her mom, Tammy Sharp, was in the kitchen helping to prep items for the trays. Tammy is on recess, too, since she is a second grade teacher in the Utica School District.

It was Karina Zabko’s third day volunteering. The 11-year-old, who was helping to set up trays, is the niece of kitchen volunteer-supervisor Joanne Lockwood.

“She wants to keep coming,” notes Joanne.

The youngest volunteer was MacKenzie DeRyder, 9, who had been there every day for two weeks.

The daughter of a friend of the family, MacKenzie accompanies Joanne to West Side Kitchen, where “she makes salads and helps with preparing trays,” and when she returns home, she “evangelizes” her mother and grandparents about volunteering.

“She prefers to come here instead of going to day care,” Joanne laughs.

***

P.S. Help!

Donna and Bob Oderkirk, the volunteer “chefs” who supervise the nighttime food preparation, are putting out a plea for more volunteers to help out on Wednesday evenings.

“Tonight in the kitchen we made 549 sandwiches and 19 gallons of soup,” Donna reports. “Bob sliced all the meat. We prepped the celery and carrots…We really need some new volunteers as the same 10 people show up every week. I am afraid we are going to get burned out.”

In addition to the Oderkirks, those evening volunteers are: Tom and Josie Abounader, Ann Longo, Gordon and Kathy Morrock, Ann Furner, Tony Weber, and Rosemary Tamer.

To volunteer, or for more information, email Donna, or call her at 315-725-0516. You can also volunteer online.

Numbers Tell a Shocking Tale

Deacon Gil Nadeau has become an advocate for our soup kitchen guests. He met with staff at the Resource Center for Independent Living (RCIL), and this past Wednesday RCIL sent an outreach team to Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen to see the need first hand.

The team did a survey of 62 of the guests, and 10 actually filled out an RCIL questionnaire, with five of them accompanying staffers back to RCIL for follow-up assistance.

“This has been a very humbling experience for all of us,” one RCIL staffer told Deacon Gil.

She shared the results of the survey. Of the 62 guests interviewed:

-- 49 (or 70 %) needed employment.
-- 41 (66 %) needed help with food.
-- 40 (65 %) needed clothing.
-- 33 (53 %) needed assistance with transportation.
-- 21 (34 %) needed medical help.
-- 17 (27 %) needed shelter.
-- 14 (23 %) expressed the need for counseling.
-- 13 (21 %) needed help with the cost of utilities.

While the numbers confirm our belief that we are serving the homeless, the jobless, and the working poor, it’s still shocking. At least 17 of our guests are living on the streets. At least 49 do not have jobs. And 21 need medical care.

And those are just the ones who were interviewed. We’re now seeing 60 to 80 guests a day, and as many as 110 on some days.

###

Lunch Milestone

“We reached a milestone at the soup kitchen,” Deacon Gil Nadeau told the congregation at the conclusion of 10:30 a.m. Mass a couple of weeks ago.

“We served 1,589 lunches last month.” The congregation erupted into applause.

“And just last week we served 400 lunches.”

He paised the volunteers and donors.

“It takes a lot of effort, thanks to our volunteers. And it takes your contributions.”

In an email to West Side Kitchen’s Coordinating Group, Deacon Gil announced another milestone, with volunteers serving lunch to 110 people on a recent day – a jump from the previous high of 85.

“The kitchen crews are doing a fantastic job taking care of our guests on a day-to-day basis,” he said. “The food is wholesome, balanced and always presented very well on the tray.”

Volunteers were chatting among themselves about how much the guests appear to appreciate the food, Quality Control Coordinator Joanne Lockwood noted. One guest was overhead saying, "My diet depends on the generosity of my neighbors."

Let the Little Children Come to Me

By Mary and Robert Stronach, SFO

Wayne, our legally blind guest, was laughing and conversing with volunteer Jim Caldwell between sips of soup. He mentioned he had been on the phone with Protective Services that morning.

“They told me to get my butt right over there,” after learning he had been living on the street for 47 days.

“But I thought I would get something to eat first.”

Across the room, volunteer Katie Koscinski, SFO, was playing “high-fives” with a giggling 3-year-old. His 6-year-old sister came rushing over with a big smile to take a turn at slapping Katie’s hand. Their mom, a refugee who speaks very little English, smiled as she nibbled on a sandwich.

The poignant truth is that children come to the Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen. Some are infants and some, a little older. It’s not unusual to have as many as six or seven on any given day. Shortly, when school is out, we fully expect those numbers to go up. For the most part, our children are very well behaved. They sit close to Mommy or Daddy, quietly enjoying their soup and sandwich.

We are happy to see them…to know that they are having a nutritious lunch. And part of us wants to scream, “Why? Why should our little children have to know that hunger is real? Why should they even know what a soup kitchen is?”

Everything should be sunshine and daisies for them. They should feel safe and secure, knowing that Mommy and Daddy will always be there for them.

Life is not so easy for some families. Dad or mom may have lost a job. The spiraling price of oil and gas has affected the cost of transportation, utilities, food and just about every product we use. The dollar just doesn’t go as far. And our children are affected. They now come to the soup kitchen. It’s part of their daily routine, just like playing with toys or taking a nap.

When you come right down to it, West Side Kitchen came at just the right time. It is a blessing. And, we have our children close to us – safe and secure at the parish center.

When you come right down to it, it’s a miracle we have them with us, rather than in an empty apartment with an empty refrigerator.

When you come right down to it, they bring us joy. The volunteers play with them and laugh. And the other guests smile every time they see a child. Isn’t that the way it should be?

Christ said, “Let the little children come to me.”

They are here, Lord. Keep them safe.