Soupers feed
county’s hungry with
free meals
By PETER
BOLTZ
Express Staff Writer
The seven
women who were having dinner together in early January know there are
hungry people in Blaine County.
And they
know many of them personally.
But as much
as they and their fellow Soupers feed many of the valley’s hungry, they
know there are more they are not reaching with their hot meal program.
Soupers are
the women and men involved in the Souper Supper program started on Dec. 8,
1997, by Margie Hill and a group of her friends.
The
four-year-old program currently provides meals twice a week on Monday and
Thursday evenings at the St. Charles Parish Hall in Hailey.
But to call
Souper Supper a program or an organization is somewhat misleading, since
it has little or no hierarchy to it.
What holds
Souper Supper together as an organization is not a set of rules and
meetings and rank. It is the committed people who have joined together to
feed the hungry.
The seven
women at that early January dinner on a Wednesday night at the St. Thomas
Episcopal Church were Ragna Caron, Lynn Flickinger, Joan Anderson, Celia
Streit, Tara Martin, Elizabeth Larroquette and Cindy Jesinger.
The dinner
was a steering committee meeting although the last two women are not on
the committee.
It is at
these once-a-month meetings that the Soupers make sure that someone has
all the suppers covered for the next three months.
And every
Monday and Thursday at 5:30 p.m. at the St. Charles Parish Hall, the
Soupers serve up a hot meal for anyone who walks through the door.
No
questions asked.
Caron said
the mission of the Souper Supper is "to serve hot meals to those who
need them," and that’s that.
Soupers are
very much aware of the pride of the people they serve, and they will not
compromise this pride.
To this
end, they practice anonymity. They never reveal who they’ve served.
Streit said
Soupers will socialize with their diners to help them feel at home, but
"we don’t ask for names, we don’t ask for telephone numbers, we
don’t ask for addresses."
But there
is something the Soupers want from the hungry.
They want
them to come.
"There
is obviously a need if we’ve been doing this for so many years,"
Flickinger said. "We served more than 1,700 meals last year."
But, she
said, there are more people out there doing without food. They just aren’t
making it to the dining room at the parish hall.
The reason,
the women said, was pretty much pride and a sense of humiliation.
Martin had
this message for these people.
"You
just have to come. All you have to do is come. Pop your head in, and if
you feel comfortable, just sit down. If you don’t feel comfortable, we’ll
seat you where you will feel comfortable."
And if a
diner prefers, the Soupers will put a "to-go" meal together for
him or her.
What the
Soupers strive for is a family feeling, and this is reflected in the
Souper Supper menus.
"We
serve what we would serve our families," Caron said.
What this
means is a wide variety of menus because each meal has a different Souper
responsible for what’s served.
Roast
turkey, lamb stew, and rice with chicken breast are some of the entrees.
And a salad, vegetable dish and bread is always part of a Souper Supper.
One
volunteer pays for and cooks up steaks and mashed potatoes.
But, the
Soupers said, they don’t get too fancy. The people they serve want
comfort food like macaroni and cheese or spaghetti.
The list of
people and businesses the Soupers credit with supplying time, money and
food is a long one, and one they are reluctant to recite off the tops of
their heads for fear of leaving someone out.
Suffice it
to say that generosity is alive, well and thriving in Blaine County, and
the Soupers know it firsthand.