Grand Valley Catholic Outreach has been serving the community for more than 32 years. One of their many programs is the soup kitchen, which serves high quality meals to the homeless everyday at noon.
Angela Walsh, the director of the soup kitchen for more than 15 years, said, “ I always tell people I have the best job in town because I find this place to be a very healing place.”
She went on to say that they feed the mind, body and soul in addition to the stomach. Walsh says that it’s not only a place to get a meal, but also a place to talk to somebody if you’re having a hard day. The relationship between the volunteers, staff, and people is a very close one.
“Maybe some people are volunteering because one of their loved ones is out on the streets in another town and they can’t help them there, but maybe we can help someone else’s child here, and that way everybody gets taken care of,” Walsh said.
The soup kitchen was originally started by nuns that were teaching at St. Joe’s Catholic School in the 1970s. They would spend their lunch break serving sandwiches and soup to the homeless. Many of the volunteers today have been serving the homeless in our community for over 20 years. Walsh said that it’s something they really believe in, and that they pour their heart and soul into providing a good healthy meal.
Donations of both money and food from people in the community provide all of the food in the soup kitchen. If donations are low, the volunteers will often go out and buy whatever the soup kitchen may need with their own money. One of the volunteers said that he has been working there for 23 years. When he first started they had between 45 and 65 diners a day, and now they get around 300.
The staff is made up of mostly volunteers, and that gives the diners a sense of family. From full course meals to handmade desserts, they put a lot of love and care into everything they prepare.
Walsh said that she has been told that they are the nicest kitchen, and she is inclined to believe them because some people do in fact travel from kitchen to kitchen.
