Soup Kitchen: A Fabulous Old Idea

.

Waldmüller (1793-1865) : "The Soup Kitchen"

The Plutocrat Sector in the US, and economically upwardly-mobile people in the USA are pressuring the American government at all levels to get out of the charity business.  They see all the social safety-net system put in place over the last century as essentially State-Financed Charity, and they insist that this business should be outsourced to religious organizations and churches.

They would like nothing better than to increase the influence of churches, simply because they believe that crime and vagrancy of all sorts is due to godlessness.  If only it were so simple!  True, feeble-minded folks are likely to toe the line for fear of divine retribution, but unfortunately the criminal classes are getting as smart as the rest of us (which probably means: not very,) and they see that religion is a fiction.

A soup kitchen in Chile, 1932

In the wake of the Great American Depression of the 30's, a wonderful idea was put into practice: the Soup Kitchen.  It went as follows:
The organizers begged or bought food at wholesale prices, got volunteers to turn the food into soup at various central locations, using equipment and locations given for charity, and proceeded to feed a vast number of impoverished individuals with soup.  You got essentially a couple of bowlfuls for free, and I think you were allowed to buy additional bowlfuls for a nominal cost.  The cooking, the serving, and the cleaning-up was all done by volunteers.  The Wikipedia article on the institution of the Soup Kitchen is very brief, and provides essentially the information given above, adding that in 1985 it was discovered that a sample of men who ate at a soup kitchen were found to have vitamin deficiencies.

Navy volunteers in California

Today, the knowledge about soup kitchens is confined only to those who have to get their meals there: usually unemployed or marginally employed workers, and the homeless.  In the last years of the 19th century, young people from well-to-do families often volunteered at soup kitchens, and it was considered quite an acceptable place in which to be seen, either volunteering in one, or getting a meal at one.  Today, a soup kitchen appears to be a place to be generally avoided by fashionable young people.  Our school has a variety of places in which the undergraduates can earn public service "credits", but I haven't noticed soup kitchens among them.  There is a Shepherd of the Streets program here, which was very energetic in the 1990's, when homelessness was a big problem in our town, but money seems to have dried up for it, along with the general level of affluence of the place.

It seems to me that a Soup Kitchen need not be a dismal, dreary place at all.  Nor need the food provided there be nutritionally deficient.  Of course, our young people would prefer to eat Pizza all the time, but it seems reasonable that those who manage a soup kitchen can provide nutritious, perfectly yummy soups or stews in a reasonably cheery atmosphere for relatively little cost.

A soup manufacturer has taken the initiative to provide a supply structure for soup kitchens.  Even if the motive if profit, still it is helpful to have someone do the head-work for the food end of such an operation, provided the product is nutritious and flavorful.  I know for a fact that flavorful, nutritious soup exists, because we had some just yesterday. 

Everyone should eat in a soup kitchen once in a while, even if for the simple reason that if we ever find ourselves needing to eat at one, we will know the ropes, and the location.  Working at a soup kitchen need not be a drudgery.  When we were working on the Obama Campaign, we were often offered meals at the campaign headquarters, and some of the poorer volunteers welcomed the food with pleasure.  The food was provided by one of the leading restaurants in town, and it seemed a great pity to have it come to a screeching halt when the election was over.

Working at the campaign headquarters was quite an education.  Many of the denizens were those I would not normally choose to socialize with, I suppose, and I was initially nervous going there.  But over the weeks I got to know the people, and got attuned to their sense of humor, and their odd habits and styles.  [It struck me that non-Democrats who read this paragraph might be amazed at the fact that Democrat volunteers worked for little reward ---outside of electing their candidate, that is--- except for a meager meal.  It also struck me that it would probably take a great deal more incentive to get the "other 53%" to volunteer to work at a GOP campaign headquarters; certainly soup wouldn't cut it ...]

At first some of the little kids who accompanied their mothers were rambunctious and noisy.  Over the weeks, as they became familiar with the place, they quietened down, and regarded the strangers volunteering there with friendlier faces.  It seemed to me that meeting all sorts of people regularly was good for all of us.  We opened our home to two sets of people, on two occasions, and the second time, we found it easier.

I plan to look into the Soup Kitchen phenomenon, and report on a later occasion.  For the moment, I just want to remind my readers of the idea, just to begin a conversation about the possibilities.

[I really love Waldmueller's art (at the top); the expressions on the faces are just glowing!  The mood seems very markedly celebratory, and the children seem very rosy-cheeked and well-fed, if ill-clothed.  This is obviously an artist who liked children.]

Arch