Blog Post #3: The Soup Kitchen

The Shepherds of Good Hope Soup Kitchen is a place for people in need, to go and get a decent meal no matter what their circumstances.  There is a small staff to make things run smoothly but it is the volunteers who really make things go.  The Soup Kitchen was  a great environment to work in.  My coach and I volunteered there for two years.  

We created a special swing shift for us, in between lunch and supper.  We cleaned up, and did the dishes after lunch.  We made loads of sandwiches for night time meal service.  We prepared desserts, portioning out whole donated or purchased cakes, pies and bars (often getting to sample them).  Sometimes we even got to cook desserts.

I learned how to use an industrial dishwasher!  A lot of fun and very satisfying to stack in dirty dishes, run the machine and out come the sparkling clean dishes.

It is an important place that really helps the community by providing access to food for people who need it.

A really cool part of the Shepherds of Good Hope is that they run a community garden called the Hope Garden.  It is an extensive community garden plot well run by one staff and volunteers.  We also spent some time in the garden, weeding (not fun but very necessary) and harvesting when it was time.  We picked green beans (back-breaking work), tomatoes and other vegetables.  The best part is that the vegetables we picked went directly to the soup kitchen for meals for the community.

Please consider the Shepherds of Good Hope Soup Kitchen (or a similar organization in your community) as a great place to volunteer.  They could sure use the help!

Happy Travels!