Helping At The Soup Kitchens

Yesterday for the second time ever I helped again at the Soup Kitchens, near where I live.

I went with my youngest brother and my mum, just like the first time.

So, before I continue I will explain what the Soup Kitchens are. It is a place you can go and volunteer to serve food for the homeless and those who have fallen upon hard times. Those helping serve soup, bread, sandwiches, desserts and a hot meal to those who have come to eat. Those who arrive for food are given bread to take away with them, a warm drink, and food that they can all eat in the room of the Soup Kitchens or take away with them.

Last time I went I helped my brother serve the salads, and my mum helped serve the soup. It was really fun helping out, and seeing a smile on the faces of the people when they were handed their plate of food. 

Yesterday, I enjoyed as well, but probably not as much as the first time. I say this because, I was given the task of drying  the plates and cups, and putting them in their given places and as there were about one hundred or more people who apparently stayed to eat, there was a lot to dry and I kept getting splashed with soup and water. My brother helped with the desserts, which he obviously enjoyed, as he got to sneak a few small bits into his mouth now and then. My brother is a real sweet tooth. My brother will eat anything that is sweet and unhealthy; cookies, ice cream, cake, chocolate...if it is sweet and unhealthy he will probably eat it without a fuss. And my mum helped with cutting and serving the sandwiches. I had started with helping my mum with the sandwiches, but as I said I was then moved, for some reason I still do not understand, over to the wonderful task of drying plates and having a second shower of my day.

So, I will stop complaining about washing and drying up and talk about the people who came to eat. As I said, apparently over one hundred people came to enjoy a meal, and some warmth from the February weather outside. The people spoke mainly French, but English was also spoken a lot, and a couple other languages sprung up here and there. A lot of them mumble a lot, and it can be very hard to understand them or make them understand what we are trying to tell them. There are also a lot of Muslims, so we had to be careful that we did not serve them anything with pork in, which was not that hard.. especially if they understood what we were saying.

Have I explained the set up of the whole thing? I have a feeling this post is a bit all over the place. So, when the hungry load of people came in they would join the long line around some of the tables to the back of the room. When they were at the front they were given a bread roll, and a ticket with the date on it. Then they moved along and were given a sandwich, or a choice of pizza and quiches. They can't touch the bread or sandwiches. The sandwiches were divided into three boxes which were cheese and vegetarian, pork, then the third was basically any other type of sandwiches. They would ask for a type of sandwich, then we would show them a couple of the options of those they were interested in and after they were happy and got what they wanted they would move along the long to a hot plate of food. The sandwiches actually took a lot of time, with some of the people, because they would ask again and again for something that there was not anymore of. This, as I have mentioned, is to do with language problems and also because of noise.  After they received the hot part of the meal they arrived at the desserts. But there is a little difficulty here too! One dessert per person only! Nobody likes sticking to just one sweet tasty treat. There would be a lot of sneaky people that would take more than one dessert and say they only had one. It is at the dessert section that they give the ticket back. This ticket is used so that the number of people that came can be counted as well as once you have given the ticket it is known that you have already taken a dessert. A couple people would not put in the ticket, and sneak a second dessert that way. 

On the other side of the room, where I was most of the time getting splashed, was another section, as well as the washing up section. At this section warm drinks: coffee and tea, were served as well as loaves of bread that was to be taken away for those who wanted one. There were a couple of complaints at this section because people wanted a certain type of bread that was not there or wanted something that the person before them had taken the last of. But no fights broke out, so that was good.

One thing that I do not like the most about helping at the Soup Kitchens is talking to the other helps, who comment on my level of french or speak far to quickly, and the cleaning up. But nobody likes cleaning up, right?!

I have a lot of things I like about helping there. I like seeing the smiles on peoples faces. I like seeing them happy and eating. I like seeing lots of faces, but at the same time I feel sorry for them and wish I could know a little more about them, for example why they came. I also like being able to eat some of the food that is leftover, at the end of the night. 

I am helping there again next week.

And I am looking foreward to it....

I just hope I do not have to deal with dirty plates and cups again next time!!