by Despina Kartson
During last night's soup run, after we served what we thought was the last of our 120 chicken dinners, one guest approached and asked for food. And then we realized that a volunteer was heading home on the subway with two remaining meals to give away. As happens so often, seemingly out of nowhere, we had one more meal to give to the last person we met.
There seemed to be fewer guests than usual on the street so our volunteers went into Penn Station and also walked around the block distributing food, blankets and toiletries. We met Bill, 80 years old, who was happy to receive all that we offered and said he is fine but waiting to get new teeth in two months. We talked with a woman who said the icon we gave her was the best gift of all. We offered a man a prayer card, and he said, “Only if it has your phone number on it.” Replying, “Better yet, it has God’s phone number on it.“ He took the card. One of our volunteers brought a coat for a special guest who was thrilled to receive it and completely touched that we would think of her.
There are so many caring and generous supporters involved in the soup run every month. It truly takes a village and our village has expanded well beyond the borders of New Rochelle! We thank and acknowledge the following:
the anonymous sponsor of this month's soup run
spot purchases of specially requested items by Deb van der Hayden
Manny Louros and Zachary Karounos for cooking and Kelly Sisco for helping to pack the food
Constantine Caviris for making sandwiches and cookies that we were able to give to our guests as an extra meal
Fr. Nick and Cyndi for donating two new folding tables
Alexandra Baudouin for donating winter jackets and hand warmers
Sock donations from Bombas
Minos Samoladas for his ongoing financial support, clothing and blanket donations
Tina Marie LePage, sister of Dino Yotides, who joined us from Boston, bringing with her 60 new sweaters!
The Southampton Philoptochos for sending two boxes of toiletry kits they secured from Colgate.
Amazing to see the far-reaching support for our soup run!
One final note, tomorrow is Make a Difference Loukoumi Day during which 100,000 children across the country will be sharing their good deeds. The Good Deed Celebration will take place tomorrow at Holy Trinity New Rochelle from 6-10pm. The children have been invited to donate one pair of socks to our soup run. Please support Make a Difference and join the celebration or donate at www.loukoumifoundation.org.
Our next soup run is the Thursday after Thanksgiving, November 29. Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving surrounded by family, friends and the many blessings of life!
