|
|
What
We Do
...More than a hot meal
|
A Day in the Kitchen
-
staff and volunteers
make
it happen
|
 |
The day begins at 6
a.m. when the chef, sous chef, and prep cook arrive and roll eight dumpsters of garbage
out of the church courtyard into the street for the Sanitation Department. There are boxes
and cans, napkins and aprons and hats and food scraps.
Yesterday’s trash disposed of – attention is turned to today’s meal:
Escalloped Turkey Ham and Pasta Casserole
(8 oz. portion)
Seasoned Sliced Carrots (3.5 ounce portion)
Broccoli Florets (3.5 ounce portion)
Sliced Peaches (6 ounce portion)
Bread and Butter (3-4 slices per person)
Iced Tea
For
1,150 Soup Kitchen Guests! |
They begin with the pasta dish:
48 pounds of raw elbow macaroni
23 pounds of butter
17 pounds of flour
38 gallons of hot milk
23 pounds of grated sharp cheddar cheese
23 ounces Worcestershire sauce
23 ounces salt
23 ounces pepper
100 pounds cooked turkey ham
Cook macaroni, rinse with cold water and set aside. Melt butter, add flour and blend well. Add hot milk, stirring constantly. Cook 10
minutes or until thick and glossy, stirring occasionally. Add remaining ingredients to the
milk mixture. Cook 10 minutes. Add cooked macaroni and mix well. Keep hot and serve.
Cooking this dish is followed by the preparation of 240 pounds of seasoned sliced carrots
and 240 pounds of broccoli florets.
Throughout the morning the Soup Kitchen’s 12 staff members arrive on a staggered
schedule to prepare the food and maintain the premises. By 10 a.m., some 40-50 volunteers
are awaiting tasks to be done or assignments for when serving begins at
10:30.
The Soup Kitchen resembles a bee hive. Staff is opening 450 pounds of canned peaches. Two
hundred pounds of bread – rye, pumpernickel, raisin, challah, white, wheat, cinnamon
– awaits volunteers and staff who will spread it with 30-40 pounds of butter. Sixty
gallons of iced tea is being brewed that will be sweetened with 100 pounds of sugar. Four
hundred trays are moved into position, spoons are being wrapped in napkins; water and
sugar is being distributed to tables. Volunteers are dashing in and donning gloves, hats,
and plastic aprons.
As the serving lines are supplied with food, the coordinator of volunteer programs assigns
tasks to the volunteers needed to collect tickets, serve the food, keep the tables
and chairs clean, serve the beverage of the day, watch the doors, empty the garbage, and
greet guests.
Promptly at 10:30, the doors open and the first of the guests begin to stream through.
Each guest picks up a tray from the food line, stops at the beverage station for a drink,
and quickly goes to one of the large round tables that seat
eight each. By 12:30 p.m. the last
of the guests have received their meals. Staff and volunteers, eager to sit down, line up for
their own lunches.
By 1:30, the volunteers have departed. Now the cleaning begins.
 Eight porters/
service assistants
wash trays and silver, pots and pans, clean stoves, ovens, and refrigerators, floors,
walls, tables, chairs, restrooms. The steward receives food deliveries for the coming
weeks and begins to move the food for tomorrow from the basement storage area to the first
floor kitchen. The operations manager sits quietly in his office planning the next 6-week
meal cycle. The chef pulls recipes for the following week and prepares the chopping charts
for vegetables. The prep cook works on the vegetables needed for the following day. At 4
p.m., the last of the mops disappear into the closet, the cutting/chopping machines shut
down – and quiet prevails. Ten hours have elapsed and all is ready for tomorrow.
Including those eight full dumpsters that need to be rolled to the street at 6 a.m.
Top
|
|
Food Program
- provides
a hot nutritious meal
to
over 1,100 hungry New Yorkers
each weekday
|
 |
Our guests make their way from all over New
York City to line up outside the Soup Kitchen. Their stomachs are empty, and they are
eager to receive a nourishing meal – for many the only food they will eat all day.
Most Soup Kitchen guests are homeless and
jobless. But the working poor are fast becoming a growing segment of the population
who are finding themselves on our line – often running out of money by the end of the
month to feed themselves and their families. Women, children, the elderly, and physically
and mentally challenged individuals comprise many of the multitudes we serve. But, by and
large, the majority of guests are minority men, who because of addiction, abuse, mental
illness, or just plain hard luck, rely on the Soup Kitchen. There
are many targeted programs serving only women, families, or the
elderly. But we have always been committed to serving everyone who
is hungry and comes to us for assistance.
In 2004, the Soup Kitchen served 296,505 meals, an average of
1,132 a day. By
the end of February 2005, HASK had served
over
5.3 million meals. Professional staff and
volunteers work side by side to ensure that each person who enters the door is welcomed
and greeted with kind words and a smile. Guests are encouraged to take their time over
their meal as they dine in the nave of our beautiful landmark church – a place of
solace and a symbol of hope and possibility.
Top
|
Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen Our Counseling and Referrals
(C&R) services respond to guests’
needs above and beyond food. We make every attempt to help them sort
through a maze of problems – often the results of a lifetime of
poverty, neglect, mental illness, or addiction. Under the guidance
of the Rev. Elizabeth Maxwell, program director of the Soup Kitchen,
volunteer counselors assist guests in taking the first steps toward getting their lives back on track.
Anyone waiting on line for a meal
may ask to see a counselor. Counselors help guests assess their needs and then link
them with one or more of the dozens of social service agencies that may assist them. It is
our goal to help those motivated to find the means to leave the Soup Kitchen line forever.
Housed in a trailer in the church’s driveway, the C&R
services offer information
and assistance with drug and alcohol rehabilitation, permanent housing, shelter, clothing,
legal aid, health care, social security benefits, public assistance, food stamps,
additional food services, and employment. Just as important, the program provides guests
with a place where their concerns will be listened to with dignity and understanding. 
Top
|
|
Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen realizes it cannot
alone provide all the help needed. To better assist this
difficult-to-reach population, Holy Apostles collaborates with other social
service agencies to provide on-site aid.
-
Food Force representatives come
weekly to help with the process of applying for food stamps.
-
Project Renewal sends a medical
van three times a week offering direct medical care.
-
The Urban Justice Center
provides staff and volunteers every Thursday to assist guests
with legal problems.
- The Veterans’ Administration
sends one of their full-service Eagle vans regularly to offer
veterans medical assistance, shelter and housing assistance,
benefits counseling, and mental health and substance abuse
assessment and treatment.
-
Project Torch does regular
outreach to homeless veterans.
-
Positive Health Project
outreach workers provide weekly education and services about
HIV/AIDS.
- Chiropractic for Life, one of
the most popular programs, is a group of volunteer chiropractors
that provides physical “adjustments”
for guests, volunteers, and staff every Thursday.
These vital services are equally important to our overall program and
commitment to helping the men and women on line truly find the
help they need.
Top
|
The Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen Writers'
Workshop was created in 1995 by award-winning author Ian Frazier out of the recognition
that people eating at the Soup Kitchen have needs and aspirations beyond a meal.
The Workshop has been a driving motivation for our guests to
take that first step forward, or rather two steps forward and one step up. The isolation
many guests experience because of hunger and homelessness is one of
the many struggles faced daily. Taught by professional
writers, it gives these individuals power to give voice to their lives. The
poetry and prose created express the uniqueness of each
participant’s creativity and experience.
The Workshop meets
in the spring on Wednesdays for ten weeks after lunch has
been served. It teaches
guests the craft of writing and helps them to explore new and different ways to express themselves. Provided with pens, paper, a table to write on, and supportive
instructors, participants
are given the opportunity to tell
of the pain and humor that makes their lives unique.
Of the works, Ian Frazier says, "They show the wit, resilience, and courage that bring the creative intelligence back on top when adversity knocks it down."
The Workshop has been
successful and has had over 200 Soup Kitchen guests participate. Some of
them have not only benefited by getting off the Soup Kitchen line and
improving their lives, but have even enjoyed the success of becoming
published writers. Workshop participants have had works published
the OP-ED section of The New
York Times, The New York Times Book Review, The Forward, and The Wine
Spectator.
At the completion of the Workshop, Holy Apostles collects and binds the
works of the participants and presents a pubic reading.
Participants gain confidence and pride in
seeing their works in print. The public reading gives guests a further opportunity to showcase their
creativity and a chance to tell their stories.
An anthology
of writings from 25 participants in the Writers' Workshop over the
past 10 years was published in October 2004. To learn about
Food for the
Soul: Selections from the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen Writers'
Workshop click here.
Top
|
In the summer of 2005,
the Soup Kitchen collaborated with ArtSpirit to bring a drumming and
art workshop to soup kitchen guests. The workshop, led by ArtSpirit
director Marion Williams, offered a complement to the
highly successful Writers' Workshop, enabling participants to gain
skills and express themselves visually and through rhythm. Each week
participants gathered in a drumming circle, starting with the rhythm
of the heartbeat and building to more complex rhythms using hand
drums, djembes, shakers, tambourines, and other percussion
instruments. After half an hour of drumming, they then created mandalas as a reflection of their experience, following themes
such as Grounding, Making connections, and Gratitude. The mandala is
an ancient circular form in which a drawing is made symbolizing
wholeness and the psyche.
The workshop
culminated in an art exhibition and drumming circle open to the
community. A number of the art works have been sold; to view them
and learn more about the program, visit:
www.artspiritonline.org/soupkitchen/index.html
A second art and drumming
workshop started at Holy Apostles in January 2006.
Top
|
|
Bible
Study
-
responding to spiritual
needs
|
|
Bible study is just another way in which Holy
Apostles seeks to respond to our guests’ total needs.
Offered every Thursday morning at 9:30,
Bible study is open to anyone on line who might like to
participate. Individuals of whatever background are welcome to
discuss a variety of biblical texts. While primarily
taught from a Christian perspective, voices and opinions from all
traditions are encouraged.
Bible study is designed for the men and women on
the Soup Kitchen line who want and need spiritual nourishment. Passages from the Bible are
read and discussed in relation to today’s world and guests’ own experiences.
Bible study seeks to offer guidance and strength so that they can better face the
difficult situations and hardships that are the reality of their lives.
Top
|
Advocacy
- keeping
the issues of poverty
and hunger before the public
|
 |
At Holy Apostles, we know that soup kitchens
are not a long-term answer to the problem of hunger. Rather, we need public policies that
make affordable housing, child care for working parents, universal health care, and living
wage jobs for all who are able to work. In the meantime, we need adequate food and
funding for emergency food programs and food stamp outreach to ensure that all who are
eligible receive these important benefits.
In speaking with the media, elected officials,
the church, and the wider community, we call on our government and all of us to act with
justice and compassion towards our most vulnerable neighbors. At the same time, we seek to
empower our guests to advocate on their own behalf, through petition drives, educational
efforts, voter registration, and collective action. We work in close partnership with
many advocacy groups on
the local, state, and national levels.
Speak Out Against Hunger
and Homelessness
Visit the Organizations
Below to Find Out More Ways in Which You Can Support Advocacy Issues
and Make Your Voice Heard
Links will open in a new window. These
are third-party websites, and HASK is not responsible for their
content.
Bread for
the World
The
Coalition for the Homeless: Housing First Initiative
Hunger Action Network of New York State
Interfaith Voices Against Hunger
National Coalition for the Homeless
New York
City Coalition Against Hunger
The New York Episcopal Public Policy Network
Top
|
|
|
The
versatile space that is the haven of the Soup Kitchen is also home
to the active parish of the