People That Eat Together Laugh Together

I want to talk this week about my volunteering because I haven’t been very good about keeping you up to date. (Just as a recap I am volunteering at a local Supper Club on Thursday nights at Trinity United Church)

I really enjoy me weekly get togethers where we make a yummy meal for a wonderful group of people and have a great time. I feel almost guilty – it’s not work at all. We have so much fun in the kitchen joking around and teasing each other or coming up with new recipes or doing impossible puzzles one of the men always brings and the night passes by so fast. I have trouble linking it to the big issues that we have addressed in our courses, because it’s just a part of my Thursday now. I read Cat’s blog a few weeks ago about people at her placement looking down on the people they were there to help and I have to say that I have experienced the exact opposite. After we have finished plating all the food and making up the to go dinners and if there is leftovers- and there is always leftovers- we each make a plate of the exact same food everyone goes out and sits at the tables. There is a great companionship between the long time volunteers and the long time attendees and its fun to watch everyone joke around. Last week my mom and I got talking about the food that we serve there and really what a special place the Supper Club is.

Prior to this term my impression of a soup kitchen was line ups to get donated castoff food like slightly stale bread and lots of beans and rice and canned food. Yet week after week this is not what I have seen. When patrons enter there are tables of snacks, fresh fruit, veggie trays, cheese and crackers, chips and dip and always a new and interesting food to learn about its never the same twice. Each week features a unique fresh made menu offering lots of variety for our picky eaters. Every week there is dessert and goodie bags for all. Last week we served roast beef, with horse radish, gravy, sweet potatoes and carrot, the week before we made pork roasts and all kinds of sides. All the food is bought at the grocery store. And all the meals are the same as you or I would for make with our own families at dinner. And we realized that it’s not about giving whatever can be spared or won’t be missed just so these people can have a warm meal, it’s about making something special for a community. People come who don’t need the food but come for the company, to share a meal with friends. It gives everyone a place they can go once a week and forget about whatever else is going on and go have fun together. Today we had cotton cane ice cream sundaes for dessert, hardly a necessity or staple food but it was a huge hit. Everyone needs spoiling sometimes. I don’t come away on Thursdays smiling just because people got to eat; it’s simply contagious how much fun everyone is having.

Despite the fun it’s still tough to see that these are mostly people that are struggling to get by, but what is even worse for me is the fact that this is a fairly new program. It has only been a couple of years at the church, and though I know there have been other smaller projects over the years there isn’t really much offered in a small town. It’s sad that there was probably a time that there wasn’t anywhere local to go to get a hot meal. There are consistently around 50- 60 in house diners each week plus to-go meals and sometimes there are more. Poverty is not all that visible in Gravenhurst I can count the number of homeless people I saw growing up on one hand. But it’s there none the less and it was really never addressed this directly until now. The Supper Club is not organized by a recognizable charity or sponsored by a company; it is run by one young woman who does this on her own time. I don’t know a lot about the organizer but she seems to be involved in a lot of charity work and I really want to talk to her more about what made her start the program and when she became aware of this unmet need. Hopefully in a few weeks time I can update you on the roots of the Supper Club.