Events: Celebrating 25th Anniversary – St. Jo’s Soup Kitchen Volunteer Dinner
Yesterday evening, we attended one of our local events which is the 25th Anniversary of St. Jo’s Soup Kitchen in Warren, PA. It was held at the Knights of Columbus hall. Approximately 30 plus people came to celebrate the event, mostly volunteers from the past, present and future. Two pastors were there, Father Tui & Father Gadding. A delicious catered meal was served for the volunteers to have a break from cooking. Cocktail was served too. It was announced that approximately 5,000 plus meals were served (in one year alone) on this group to the needy people in our local community. People are not screened when coming to eat. When they get there, they are served with a complete meal for free.
It was nice of Father Tui, pastor of St. Joseph’s Roman Catholic church, to give his speech of appreciation to all volunteers. He acknowledged 3 coordinators, past coordinators were Marj Cohann & Marilyn Cole and new coordinator is Anne Wortman. He gave them each a St. Jospeph’s icon as a token of appreciation.
This people were also at my table. Some are familiar faces, whom I have met during my Soup Kitchen volunteer years. I am sure there are lots of them that are new ones, which is good.
My husband is also a St. Jo’s soup kitchen volunteer for many, many years. Though he come there late because of his office work, he still help in the after care committee.
This is my mother in law, one of the Soup Kitchen coordinators in the past. By the time I got here in US on 2008, she inspired me to join and be active in volunteering in Soup Kitchen.
This is me and Donna Hanna at the back. We’re one of the volunteers too. She’s more active than I do, as having children in my case is one of my disappointments that I can’t volunteer to help soup kitchen anymore. Maybe when my kids get a little older, where they can do some volunteer work, that’s the time to go back. If there will be a volunteer baby sitter, then I can help but it would be asking too much. Smiles. I am just grateful that other soup kitchen volunteers still remember me and invited us to come to this free event. The Chicken cordon bleu and the rest of the food and desert were all delicous. Chatting with the other volunteers was a nice social meeting. I also want to thank my brother in law who took care in baby sitting my two boys while we joined this beautiful event in our local community. Kudos to all volunteers and kind sponsors who have taken part in their 25 years of charitable service!
How about you, do you partake on your local charitable groups like Soup Kitchens too?
I wish I had time to volunteer, but with 30 grands and 6 great grands my time is pretty much in demand.