 |
| Serving Callaway County communities since 1875. | www.fultonsun.com | Wednesday, November 19, 2008 |
| |||||||
|
Satellite soup kitchen to open in Holts Summit By ROGER MEISSEN The Fulton Sun
That's why a new soup kitchen location in Holts Summit will reach out to more of the hungry in Callaway County. “Very often your people who need or would patronize a soup kitchen don't have cars,” organizer Helen Manson said. “They may be a member of the working poor and certainly don't have the gas money to be coming to Fulton. “That's why having satellite (soup kitchens) in other communities besides Fulton is an important thing.” The Holts Summit location will be just that, as it prepares to begin serving meals from 5-6 p.m. every Thursday at the Lion's Club. Manson will help serve the first meal on Sept. 4. She began organizing the kitchen after she had to stop volunteering at the Fulton Soup Kitchen due to her husband's heart problems. “I had to sort of back out of volunteering there because of my husband Don's health, but he's doing a little better now,” Manson said. “We got to looking around for a place in Holts Summit because we thought the need was there. The kitchen will bring an opportunity to volunteer closer to home for many. “From my own church in Holts Summit, we would get some volunteers who would go to Fulton, but most of them would have some difficulty with that distance,” Manson said. “Now I'm hearing ‘Oh wow, a soup kitchen in Holts Summit' and ‘we'll be there.' “People often like to bring their children and make it a family thing that they do,” she continued. “I'd like to get all the different churches around Holts Summit involved. Since we only do it once a week, if we get four or five churches with volunteers, it might work out so that an individual might only have to volunteer once every two months with so many people sharing the load.” The meal program will closely mirror the Fulton Soup Kitchen model, and essentially act as a satellite location in Holts Summit. The Fulton Soup Kitchen will furnish essentials, including Styrofoam plates, bowls, and tableware, and also will provide milk to be served with each meal. However, the bulk of the expense will be passed on to volunteers and church organizations that will spend hours making the food, serving it and cleaning up afterwards. “The people who serve the meals for the most part - probably 99 percent of the time - furnish the food themselves,” Fulton Soup Kitchen Treasurer Jim Erbschloe said. “I'm sure there's a need down in Holts Summit, just as there is here. “The Mansons are really devoted and dedicated to the Soup Kitchen. Don has a bad heart, and it bothers him because he can't contribute the way he used to, but this is something.” Erbschloe said the Fulton Soup Kitchen serves four meals a week in different locations each time, and it gets its best turn out when serving at the John C. Harris Community Center. “I think that's one of the reasons we're getting such good numbers at the community center because of the subsidized housing that's around that area,” Erbschloe said. “Generally, for the working poor - who barely make it from paycheck to paycheck - getting a free meal really helps.” Manson believes the Holts Summit location will get good turnout for the same reason. “Of course we don't yet know the response,” Manson said. “We're trying to get the word out, but we do know there are several places of subsidized housing ,,, and just plain good old working folks that have difficulty making it, especially with the prices of gas and food these days. Hopefully, we can help them all out.” |
 |
Email this story | |
 |
Back to index | |
 |
Printer friendly version |
All Contents Copyright © 2008 The Fulton Sun. All rights reserved. AP stories Copyright © 2008 Associated Press. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Click for copyright details.
Comments or questions? Contact us.