In the Soup Kitchen During the Year of the Corona Virus, September 9, 2020
10 Months ago, I began as a volunteer cook in the local soup kitchen. The temperatures were mild, with a hint of the winter to come. After nearly 4 year post-nuclear, I had reached the point where I could offer myself to this effort for at least one day per week. I had some experience in commercial baking in my late teen’s, a job on weekends and summers during college. With that ancient experience in hand I joined in and soon found myself feeling genuinely useful.
I discovered that we had around 80 visitors for Breakfast, and about 120 for lunch each day. We do not serve Dinner but would hand out to-go sandwiches to anyone asking. On a routine day we gave around 50 sandwiches out. The number meals and sandwiches we serve out visitors will rise around 20% in the final days of the month, as that month’s benefit payments ran low for many of our Visitors.
After the Corona, these daily meal numbers tripled for many weeks, and we had to switch to take-out only format. With the exception for a few well isolated and socially distanced table that are available for the Documented Homeless,(Yes, there is such a status in Connecticut anyway). Here they can sit, eat, and take care of daily hygiene needs, while recharging their mobile devices and doing their laundry (two loads, once per week).
After the summer descended upon us, our daily volume fell to about double pre-pandemic levels, we never expect them to return to these original levels again. Those pleasant temperature from last fall were long gone, our facility has no air conditioning, during one of the hottest days in August, my meat thermometer read 108 degrees F on the shelf.
In the past 10 months, amongst other things, I have learned the following:
1. Food insecurity is much worse than I imagined, with the areas two largest employers paying at or close to minimum wage for almost all jobs. Many of the workers work multiple part time jobs, but still find themselves unable to eat a few days a month.
2. Our volunteer base of kitchen and support staff is mostly over 65, and a few are in their early 80’s. I am 58 and am the kid most days. The Covid-19 pandemic has made about 75% of these people unavailable to work, so I increased my work schedule to three days per week, and now arrive at 5:30 AM instead of 6:30, and leave around 2:30 PM, instead of 1:30.
3. Only about 10% of our visitors are homeless, and live in one of several tent villages in the area. These people suffer the worst indignities and are mostly seen on the streets of our small city during daylight hours.
4. I can cook a mean side dish, and I can turn box potatoes into some genuinely tasty. This effort does come with a personal price tag; each workday I bring in around $20.00 worth of supplements to make this improvement a reality.
5. Not everyone is cut out to do this work. We get a small number of people who are working their community service hours. Many of them last only one shift, and never return, or they are asked to not return. Many of our visitors have various forms of psychological impairments, and taunting, belittling, or ignoring them is not the way to help them.
6. The waste of usable food is very real in my area. Each day we get many pounds of perishable foods donated by several large supermarkets and chain restaurants. About one third of this food is not usable when we get it, one day sooner and it would have been fine. Sometimes the donations are truly amazing, a bakery chain's local store sends great stuff at lease twice a week, and I personally thank them everytime I visit there location.
I am not a religious man, and find little to offer in organized religion, but when I feed our visitors, to paraphrase Eric Liddell, I feel that “god gave me this hidden talent, and when I feed others, I feel his pleasure”.
I also feel I am paying back for the extreme kindness shown me and my children many years ago. Those who have been here since the beginning, may remember the loss of my first wife, April, to cancer. Random people both here, and in my community, showed me that not everyone expects reward for doing kind things.
Thanks for reading, my next Journal post is a Winneroux,
Throckmorton
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Thank you.
-Laelth
You're a human angel; thanks for pitching in to those in need. 
