We’re in need of more soup kitchen teams to help with Wednesday dinners in 2024. Here’s how it works:
Our Soup Kitchen serves dinners on Wednesdays and lunches on Saturdays. Each team signs up for either Wednesday or Saturday, and the teams will then rotate serving the meal on their designated day. (Please note that we are all set for Saturday teams and cannot accept more at this time. We are only in need of teams for Wednesday dinners.) The frequency with which teams will have their turn varies based on the number of teams we have that year – in 2023, our Wednesday teams served 5 to 6 meals each while our Saturday teams served 2 to 3 meals each. The Soup Kitchen schedule is set in early December for the following year, so teams have plenty of time to plan for their turns.
So what exactly is involved in the teams’ turns serving? Each team is responsible for planning, purchasing, preparing, serving, and cleaning up after the meal when it is their turn. Wednesday teams need to prepare a dinner – such as pasta, pork tenderloin, or a stew – while Saturday teams need to prepare sandwiches (we take care of preparing soup to go with them). We generally recommend that a team have from 6-8 members, but meals can be served successfully with as few as 4, and it’s never a bad thing to have more team members on your roster in case someone is unavailable.
Teams are asked to prepare 150 meals each time. Depending on what is served, the cost usually comes in at around $200 per meal. To cover that cost, some teams will do fundraising, collect among church groups, or find a business sponsor. Some teams are groups of coworkers that are sponsored by their employer. (In some circumstances, we are able to help with the costs of the food if you’re able to provide the team to do the preparation. If you’re interested in helping, don’t let this factor hold you back. Please reach out to discuss.)
If you think you might be interested in starting a Wednesday soup kitchen team, get in touch with Sara today at marketing@vincentplacessm.ca or 705-253-2770 ext. 202.