Blog Posts from November, 2016

Happy Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving season as I enter into my final weeks as Executive Director of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen, my heart is filled to overflowing for all I have experienced in this position during the past eleven and a half years. I have been forever changed by the people I have met.

First of all, I am grateful for the guests of the Soup Kitchen, who have taught me about poverty, racism, faith, and gratitude. (“How are you this morning?” I ask, as I arrive for another day of work.  “I’m blessed,” is the inevitable response. “I woke up this morning.”  I know full well that they might have woken up in a cold, abandoned house—but they are “blessed.” What a lesson for me.

Stealing from a soup kitchen and children

The Capuchin Soup Kitchen is saddened today. Last night, the Soup Kitchen’s Conner kitchen site was broken into and three computers from our Children Program’s computer lab were stolen.

Difficult Thanksgiving

I think Thanksgiving must be a difficult time for those who feel bereft or abandoned. I remember my first thanksgiving prayer with the children at the Soup Kitchen. Brother Ray and I had worked hard to promote prayers of gratitude among the children. One distraught 9 year old girl shouted out:“I ain’t thankful for anything. I don’t even know who my daddy is.” Her pain stayed with me for a long, long time—but eventually, her life got better and she often expressed words of gratitude.