The Mustard Seed Soup Kitchen Volunteers

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Created on Wednesday, 12 October 2016 01:44

Written by Rebecca Reese

ST. JOHNSBURY -- The Mustard Seed Soup Kitchen in St. Johnsbury wouldn't be up and running if it weren't for volunteers.

Director Frank Rothe said the soup kitchen was inspired by bible study. “We started out as a youth mentoring program, we opened a thrift store to support it and it developed into the soup kitchen," he said. It opened in 2002.

 The soup kitchen serves lunch on Tuesday and Thursday every week. Rothe said they usually serve 75 to 80 people each meal-- sometimes up to 120 people depending on the time of year. He said it feels great to serve that amount of people.

The volunteers do a little bit of everything. Jim O'Malley is one of those volunteers. His daily duties range from cooking to cleaning and moving things around to just talking with the people who come in. “It doesn’t matter what you’re doing-- how wonderful or menial the task that you’re doing for somebody else. It gives you a great feeling,” he said.

"It may not always be fun, but you know, I've always felt this," O'Malley said. "There’s joy and there's satisfaction that you’re doing something for somebody outside yourself.”

O'Malley has been volunteering for 3 years. Just one year longer than another volunteer Claudia Racine. Racine started volunteering at the soup kitchen 2 years ago because her daughter used to work there. Once Racine joined, there was no going back she said. The reason is simple. "I've always liked volunteering," she said.

“I feel good," she said. "I love helping people. I think this is what I’m supposed to do this is how I feel. It makes me feel good to help somebody. I know if I needed help they would help me and it’s my way of paying back and I love doing it. I feel good about myself.”

Working at the soup kitchen has opened her eyes to see the bigger issues in the town of St. Johnsbury. Racine said she never realized how many homeless people there were until she started working at The Mustard Seed.

“There’s a lot of homeless people out there… that live under the bridges," she said. "I was shocked, there’s a lot of people who I didn’t realize were homeless."

Even though the kitchen only serves meals twice a week, the volunteers stress that the door is always open—whether it be for a meal or just needing somebody to talk to.

“I’ve been blessed and I’d like to bless other people," Racine said.