Today, my church’s youth group was scheduled to volunteer at a local soup kitchen called Elijah’s Bowl.  Earlier this week, I called the kids (and received lots of answering machine recordings) asking them to let me know if they were planning on attending.  I didn’t receive any responses, so I called the woman who organizes volunteers for the soup kitchen to let her know we’d only have a few people, so if she could get a few extra backups, that would be great.

On Thursday night, I was told that two of the youth and one of their parents would be joining me for the service project.  While it wasn’t as many people as I was hoping for, it would be a decent amount and it meant that we met our conference’s Safe Sanctuary requirements (two non-related adults when working with children).  It turned out, however, that only one of the kids came.

Knowing I was in a tough spot with our requirements, I spoke with my pastor (who was at a worship design meeting at the church) about adults who might be available.  We weren’t able to come up with any names, so we decided I would bring the lone child home and would go to the soup kitchen alone.

The four hours at Elijah’s Bowl went by very quickly.  There were seven of us, which seemed to be the perfect amount: enough people to do the work but not too many that we were in the way of each other.  I’m sure we could have used a few extra volunteers, but we weren’t in such bad shape that we couldn’t get the work done.

Though I didn’t count the number of people who came, I would guess we served around 80 people, probably more.  The pour economy is hitting the town (Sunbury) rather hard, as we weren’t able to provide take-out meals for people to bring home for later in the day/week.  I’m very glad I was able to help out because the experience shed a new light on how difficult things are right now.

For the few people who read my blog, if you’re able (and I’m guessing you are if you are fortunate enough to have access to the Internet), please donate food to your local soup kitchens (or grocery store gift cards so they can buy what they need when they need it and not be stuck with a hundred cans of creamed corn).  Additionally, and equally important, try to find time to help prepare and serve meals, whether it be once a quarter or once a month.  Those running soup kitchens rarely have enough staff, so I’m sure they’d love the help.