Westminster students share bounty with Soup Kitchen

Stephanie Backus/FULTON SUN photo: Robert Dickens, of Westminster Food Services, works to package food at the end of a shift. Westminster recently paired with the Soup Kitchen to donate leftover food from each lunch shift to the Soup Kitchen Monday through Thursday. This is the first week the food has been served to patrons of the Soup Kitchen, who were happy with the variety of choices they had for dinner.
Stephanie Backus/FULTON SUN photo: Robert Dickens, of Westminster Food Services, works to package food at the end of a shift. Westminster recently paired with the Soup Kitchen to donate leftover food from each lunch shift to the Soup Kitchen Monday through Thursday. This is the first week the food has been served to patrons of the Soup Kitchen, who were happy with the variety of choices they had for dinner.

Two years after a trip to a Bread for the World conference in Washington, D.C. inspired the creation of the Westminster Poverty Initiative, a group of students are taking the first steps toward making a difference in the local community.

Having forged a partnership with the school's food services program, Fresh Ideas, the students this week started delivering excess food from campus meals to the Soup Kitchen to supplement its nightly offerings.

At 2 p.m. each afternoon, WPI president Derick Dailey and several classmates load up trays of leftovers from lunch to cart over to the John C. Harris Community Center, where the Soup Kitchen serves dinner to area families from 5-6 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

"We can actually take this food and give it to people that need it, which is wonderful," said WPI