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Soup: Volunteers feel the need to give

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volunteers, who also stop to coo and admire the baby. As other guests arrive, they, too, are greeted warmly, invited to the tables and served their meals. “It’s nice to see families come in,” a volunteer said. “Those of us who have raised kids know how nice it is to have a day when you don’t have to worry about what to cook for dinner.”
The Lafayette Community Church celebrated its first anniver- sary this spring and recently dedicated a new sanctuary. But the congregation has done more than look to its own needs in the less than two years since it was founded.
Sally Peterson, whose husband, the Rev. Jim Peterson, is pastor of the church, said she and another church member started the soup kitchen because they wanted to do something that would make a dif- ference in people’s lives.
“When we talked at church about our hopes to do this, we had a lot of people step up and want to help,” she said.
The soup kitchen volunteers clearly feel a need to give, as much or maybe even more than their community needs to receive. “It’s not a matter of needy people, Peterson said. “If people need the food, that’s great, but even if they aren’t needy we are happy to have them come. It gives us a chance to serve and see with our own eyes that we are making a dif- ference.
“We hope people will feel the love of Christ through receiving the food and know that they are part of a caring community.”
addition to the helpers from Lafayette, church youth groups from Amity and Dayton also vol- unteer on a regular basis.
The majority of patrons are ages 35 to 50, but there are also quite a few children and elderly people who come for dinner. Soup kitchen volunteers are happy to see elderly citizens come in for the weekly meals.
“It’s hard to cook for just one, and not much fun to eat alone. I worry that some folks just don’t bother to eat some nights,” a volunteer said. Thomas Saraceni has been a regular patron at the soup kitchen for several months. He chats amiably
with others at his table as they eat. He said he thought he would be in town only temporarily when his motor home broke down. But experiences like Tuesday nights at the soup kitchen have changed his mind about traveling on down the road.
“I’ve been in Oregon 40 years and I’ve been in Lafayette since Oct. 11, when my motor home broke down,” Saraceni said. “At first I stayed because I was waiting to get it repaired. But people have been so friendly. They invited me to church. There are a lot of good people and it’s a nice town. I’ve decided to make Lafayette my home.” Saraceni said he cooks for him- self most nights, but the Tuesday night gatherings are fun for him.
Dunwoody said she enjoys meeting people and also loves to cook. She gets to do both by working frequently at the soup kitchen. “People will sit and talk for a long time,” she said, “and we really enjoy seeing that.”
The program is supported by donations from church and community members. Grocers sometimes donate food, like the bread that comes every week from McMinnville area grocery stores. The Lafayette Community Action Team coordinates a bread giveaway on Monday afternoons in the community center. Even though people take heaping sacks of baked goods home on Mondays, there’s usually plenty left for use in the soup kitchen. In fact, soup kitchen volunteers often send their patrons home with packaged bread, rolls, and sometimes pies, cakes, muffins and sweet rolls, to keep the food from being wasted.
“We can usually feed everyone for about $40 a week, but that’s often augmented by donations of food,” Martin said.
As attendance increases, the soup kitchen could use additional help to get through lean times or pay for special treats. For more information, call the church at 503- 864-8409.