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Fall 2007 | |
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The Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries Fall 2007 Volunteer Newsletter We are each of us angels with only one wing, and we can only fly by embracing each other. Luciano deCrescenzo Hot off the Press! Welcome to Sherri Weiss, a new member of the Pantry Manager team! Sherri brings with her a fabulous sense of enthusiasm, and looks to be a promising and valuable asset to the SSKP. Thanksgiving Dinner The annual Thanksgiving Dinner will be held at the Grace Episcopal Church on Main Street in Old Saybrook at 1 pm Thanksgiving Day. The food is donated by Bristol-Meyers Squibb, Structural Graphics and generous members of the community. A large portion of the food is prepared by employees of Bristol-Meyers Squibb. If you would like to volunteer or donate please call Patty at 860-388-1988. Christmas Dinner The Christmas Dinner will be held at the Grace Episcopal Church on Main Street in Old Saybrook at 2pm Christmas Day. If you would like to volunteer or donate please leave a voicemail for Lin at 860-388-1988, Clinton extension. Items Needed
Food For Thought "Food for Thought" Is a new column where volunteers can share their views on hunger and poverty. I began seriously volunteering in a soup kitchen in the 1980’s at a small storefront in New London. It was when homeless people were beginning to be a felt presence in our country. The kitchen was old and tiny, yet out of it the director miraculously served a daily meal to about 70 people. I offered to arrange for our Old Lyme church to provide the meal and volunteers once a month. I remember looking out over the people eating there and wondering how faith communities were going to fulfill the expanding need as the government increasing limited their involvement in helping the poor. I was a volunteer (unpaid), a mother with three little children (unpaid) in a society that was touting greed as a virtue. Yet I felt the people we served were my fellow human beings, that "whatever you do for the least of these my brothers (and sisters) you do for me". I knew then that in helping to feed these people I was helping the government cut more services. Still, I decided to help. As a mother I knew the rewards and sacrifices of caring for others. Around the same time a small group of volunteers started a tentative soup kitchen in Essex. I heard about this endeavor from a friend, Charlie, who was an early volunteer there. We would compare notes as to whose guests were needier, New London or Essex. He was serving fewer people, but he convinced me that the need was as great. In the 1990’s, Charlie and I switched places. He moved to organizing our church’s monthly meal in New London, now serving up to 200 people, and I took on the task of coordinating a weekly Saturday lunch for the Shoreline Soup Kitchens, served "temporarily" at the First Congregational Church of Old Lyme. We fed about 60 people upstairs while others distributed groceries in the basement. Our mission was "food and fellowship" to all who came. We did not question anyone about their financial need or restrict them because of their place of residence. Occasionally volunteers would peek outside and say "some of these people drive cars better than mine", but there was never a question looking at the people inside that we were serving people in need. When I hear that comment, and I still do, I just shrug and think of Enron. There are people at all levels of society who abuse the system. Our abusers get a dented can of soup. Most of our guests are honest and needy, and all our volunteers are compassionate and caring. At the same time, I served 6 years as a member of the Shoreline Soup Kitchens Board of Trustees, one year as president, and watched the generous contributions of local people and businesses to our organization grow. Many people of great talent offer their services to the board. An expanded vision of what we do came when my husband and I went with two members of my church to visit our partner church in Johannesburg, South Africa. There, at midnight, we went out into the streets and fed the homeless, and we visited the homes of people living in squatters camps. It was a humbling, intense, wonderful experience, and I felt closer to God there than I have ever felt. I learned the simple lesson that people are people everywhere. Three years ago I took on the paid (yeah!) position of manager of the food pantry in Old Lyme while continuing to run the soup kitchen as a volunteer. We now serve a Saturday brunch to about 80 people and give out groceries to feed about 500 people a week. Over the three years, the number of people we serve keeps growing and the population we serve is changing. When I took on the job it was mostly white people who came. Now it is mostly people of color, many of them Hispanic. I am glad them feel so welcome at our church. I like to think that on Saturday the real world comes to Old Lyme. Many of these people are from New London, and I am happy to be helping my friends there who serve the needs of a growing number of homeless people. The government helps out with surplus food programs, but those contributions keep decreasing. The people at the top keep wanting to cut while people at the bottom are willing and eager to give. I wish I felt we were working with the government instead of racing to fulfill needs because of them. We at Shoreline are thankful to the Connecticut Food Bank for scrounging the 10,000 pounds of food we haul from there every week to stock our food pantries and soup kitchens. We also couldn’t do what we do without the local people who supplement our offering with food drives, food donations and cooked meals. The Shoreline’s Heat ‘n Eat program and vegetable garden are welcome additions. It takes tremendous volunteer efforts to keep all this running, and I am eternally grateful to all my volunteers for their hard work. It also takes tremendous generosity from the community in contributing the money to make our offering possible. There is a spirit at Shoreline of hard work, compassion, friendliness, respect for each other and for the people we serve. I am proud to play a large part in what is a small offering in a world where it is increasingly the small people who are making a difference. Louise Lynch Crop Walk Great Success Thanks to You! Every year an interfaith event known as the "Crop Walk" is held to benefit and promote awareness of world and domestic hunger. Often the groups elect to forward the monetary and/or food proceeds to the SSKP. This year there were some local groups that held their walk in their own towns. There also were a large number of local groups that joined the Valley Shore Interfaith Hunger Walk hosted by the United Church of Chester. The events were a huge success thanks to all who participated. Thank you so much to all! Old News is Still Good News SSKP is looking for a volunteer who is willing to take sorted bottles from the Old Saybrook Transfer Station (pre-sorted by OS Boy Scouts) and bring them to Stop & Shop for redemption. SSKP and the Boy Scouts would split the money generated 50/50. If you are interested in helping in this very earth friendly fundraising activity please call 860.388.1988 or email pdowling@shorelinesoupkitchens.org. It would entail about 1-2 hours per week of work. Your Help Is Desperately Needed! Volunteers are needed to help with the Heat n Eat program on Fridays at 11am. Stop in and ask for Homer or Cathy Mills at the Grace Episcopal Church Kitchen in Old Saybrook. Board Trustee Profile Robert B. Skeele My wife Nancy and I moved to Old Saybrook eight years ago, when I retired. My work with the Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries, as a trustee and treasurer, began last year. Originally from the Boston area, I’ve lived in Massachusetts, California (during WWII), New Hampshire, Illinois, Rhode Island, the Bahama Islands, Texas, and of course, Connecticut, and have attended schools in most of these places. After graduating from Amherst College in Massachusetts, I served two years in the Navy during the Korean War on a "DE," a destroyer-type ship, but smaller. Two Navy schools served as the midpoint between kindergarten and, when I was 45, a semester in business school courtesy of my company. My 45-year business career involved the management of merchant ships employed in the ocean transportation of raw materials for the steel industry, grain, and petroleum-related substances ranging from crude oil to natural gas. My employers (eight in all) included giants U.S. Steel and Exxon as well as very small companies. Overseas projects gave me some very unusual experiences. In my last 15 years I was a consultant in New York, and also wrote and edited a leading industry publication covering the transportation of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the Middle East and Indonesia to Europe, the Far East and the U.S. I have three grown children, and Nancy also has three. Four sons and two daughters, all married, have given us ten grandchildren. The closest are in the Northeast; we don’t see the others often enough. Nancy and I really enjoy Old Saybrook. Nancy plays the flute and piccolo in various venues along the Shoreline. We’ve been members of choral groups in the area, and both of us are active in the Congregational church here. I spent three years as treasurer on the board of the District of Fenwood, and for several years was also a tax preparation volunteer at the Estuary Senior Center. That’s where I encountered Ed Lyons and Bob Hester, who interested me in a more active role with the Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries. It has been tremendously satisfying to work with the SSKP. Its mission is a high calling to me, and the working relationships with the Board and staff are excellent. The volunteers, as I’ve watched them and worked with them, are the most highly motivated, competent, happy and dedicated group of people I’ve ever encountered. It’s a pleasure to be on board! Meal Site Profile Thursday Meal Site Deep River Baptist Church 5:00 to 6:00 pm 23 River Street. Deep River Coordinator –Shirley Rutan Thursday’s meal is served at the Deep River Baptist Church. While this site is only 7 years old, we have one of the busiest meal sites, serving between 30 and 40 guests every week. Dinner here is much like a church supper because our site is blessed with a homey atmosphere and wonderful volunteers. We’ve been particularly fortunate to have had the pastor at Deep River Baptist Church join us for most of our meals over the past 7 years. Many civic groups volunteer here (the Rotary, the Lions Club, employees from 2 banks, a Girl Scout troop, and a Boy Scout den), as well as Deep River Baptist Church and Deep River Congregational Church members, and other friends from the community. Our more than 50 volunteers are dedicated to providing fellowship as well as a well cooked meal. Thank You! Thank you to all the volunteers for your hard work, strong muscles, and caring hearts. You are all deeply appreciated! Your Ideas Please share any ideas you have about our newsletters! E-mail Lin Smith at lsmith@shorelinesoupkitches.org or call 860-388-1988 Clinton extension. Special Idea that Touched a Heart "Birthday Bags" seem to be a favorite donated item at some of the pantries. Decorated bags are filled with cake mix, frosting, candles, then themed party supplies such as plates, napkins, favors, etc. Recently in one of the pantries, a young boy told a volunteer that it was going to be his birthday next week. All we know of the boy is that he and his Grandpa live together. Grandpa is older and doesn't look like he can work, so birthdays for the boy most likely do not include parties with friends. He was given a birthday bag that had "camouflage" paper goods and other birthday party supplies. "His eyes lit up like I couldn't believe" a volunteer said. I guess that boy is going to have a special day this year. The Cup of Coffee A group of alumni, highly established in their careers, got talking at a reunion and decided to go visit their old university professor, now retired. WE make a living by what we get, But we make a life by what we give. Winston Churchhill How to Help To volunteer, or to donate, or for any information about the Shoreline Soup Kitchens and Pantries please call or email Patty Dowling. The Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries P.O. Box 804 Essex, Connecticut, USA 06426 pdowling@shorelinesoupkitchens.org 860.388.1988 |