Preparing the Winter Overflow Shelter Meal, 2019

Every year at this time we prepare and serve a meal for the Winter Overflow Shelter held at the old Austine School in Brattleboro. It was the Brattleboro Inter-faith Council and our former minister the Rev. Barbro Hansson who started the service more than 8 years ago, feeling that the community could provide a hot meal to those staying in the shelter. It’s one of the services All Souls gives directly to at least some of the people of Brattleboro who are homeless, and is especially meaningful to me to provide a healthy hot meal to folks. We prepare the same meal once a month, other non-profits or individuals provide dinner the other nights. This year we have the 2nd Thursdays of the month, so the dates are December 12, Jan 9, Feb 13, March 12 and April 9. We cook beef stew, barley and lentil soup, serve garlic bread and dessert. After shopping for the ingredients, we gather in the kitchen at 4:00 on those Thursdays, chop the veggies and cook the meat. Depending on how many hands we have, this may take about an hour.    We heat the garlic bread while the soups cook, and another volunteer makes the dessert. Everything, including milk, is set up ready to be brought up to the shelter at 6:00 to be served by another crew around 6:30. For the chopping and cooking it’s a once a month event, and you don’t have to commit to every month. If you want to get involved in the cooking or help serve, connect with Kathy Squires. It is a great chance to serve our larger community and at the same time connect with some “All Souls” in the kitchen.
kathy 365-7388.