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| ANDY CRIPE/Gazette-Times Jeanette M cooks up a batch of hash browns Saturday morning at the First Christian Church in Corvallis. Maier has been volunteering her services since the the stone soup program began. |
Giving time for the greater good
Downtown church to add Sunday to its stone soup
meals
In the old story of stone soup, a wandering stranger came to a village where
people jealously hoarded whatever food they could find. Everyone told him
there
was not one bite to eat in the entire province. He took a stone from a
velvet bag
and dropped it into an iron cauldron filled with water. Everyone
in the village
ended up donating different vegetables and meats, turning the
stone and the
water into a hearty soup.
The moral of the story is that, with everyone contributing, a greater good is achieved.
The congregation of First Christian Church at
602 S.W. Madison Ave. has been making enough stone soup to feed around 70
hungry people every Saturday morning. The free meals — which go far beyond
soup — include ingredients from the pantry of the St. Mary's stone soup
kitchen, eggs and butter brought in by church members who purchased the
items on sale, donated fruits and veggies, and a lot of elbow grease.
Now, after more than a year of operating the Saturday breakfast program,
First Christian has decided to add a Sunday dinner starting Oct. 3. Students
from Oregon State University and the OSU Committee on Poverty and Hunger
will volunteer their time preparing and serving the additional weekly meal.
This will extend Corvallis' stone soup program to seven days a week. St.
Mary's Catholic Church, 501 N.W. 25th St., currently serves 30 to 50 people
four days a week, with dinner Mondays and Thursdays and lunch Wednesdays and
Fridays. Local churches, including First Christian, share the preparation of
the Tuesday dinner at the Westminster House, 101 N.W. 23rd St.
But in order to continue cooking the Saturday breakfast along with the
additional Sunday dinner, First Christian needs to remodel its kitchen. The
building doesn't have adequate ventilation to install a commercial stove and
lacks a floor sink to dispose of mop water. The Benton County Health
Department issued the church a restaurant license with the understanding
that a new kitchen was in the works.
The church needs $220,000 to remodel the kitchen in the 80-year-old
building. Around $145,000 has already been collected from the congregation
and various grants. In order to reach their goal, church members need to
collect another $75,000.
Proceeds from the church's 10th annual craft fair this weekend, which
coincides with the Corvallis Fall Festival in nearby Central Park, will go
toward the kitchen renovation. The church has lined up 52 vendors to display
their wares on the street, lawn and parking lot adjacent to the church.
Church members will also sell used books, craft items, pottery and food. In
previous years, proceeds from the event have supported a variety of causes.
First Christian Church sees serving stone soup meals as part of its mission,
which is to seek out, develop and support ministries to meet the human needs
for physical and spiritual wholeness. As a downtown church, the congregation
became aware of a growing population of homeless people.
"We had more and more hungry and homeless people coming into the building
for coffee and a place to sleep," said church member Sue Schulz, one of four
lead Stone Soup cooks. "Several people were hunting for Easter eggs when we
hid them for the children in the churchyard. It was really apparent that the
need was there.
"St. Mary's does a wonderful job five days a week. They were maxed out and
couldn't extend themselves further," said Schulz, explaining why First
Christian extended the program. The congregation was concerned that there
weren't many places for the homeless and hungry to get a hot meal during the
weekend.
Last Saturday, a dozen volunteers at First Christian served scrambled eggs,
sausage patties, fresh cantaloupe and tomatoes, sweet rolls, zucchini and
onions, hashbrowns, coffee, tea and juice to a room full of hungry people.
The spacious room, with its eight large round tables and more than 50
upholstered chairs, provides a comfy respite for those enjoying a meal.
Steve Johnson, a homeless man from Corvallis, said he eats at First
Christian every Saturday morning.
"It's a nice place to have coffee and get a bite to eat. If there are people
that can't get food stamps or don't make enough in cans, it's just one of a
few places to eat."
Sitting at the same table that morning was Rick Kleinosky, who said he's
known as "the Caveman." Kleinosky has been in Corvallis for eight years and
has only lived indoors for about three of those years. He frequently takes
advantage of Safeway's club card to stretch his food budget. For $4.99, he
said, he can buy a deli sandwich that will last more than one meal. With the
club card, after purchasing his seventh sub, he gets one free.
But for Johnson, even budget sandwiches are out of reach.
"That's a little expensive for my blood," he said.
By expanding its Stone Soup program to Sunday, Johnson said, First Christian
Church is filling a need in the community.
"You (fend) for yourself on Sundays," he said.
Some other places that provide meals to those in need include Community
Outreach Inc. Open three times a day, seven days a week, the Community
Outreach shelter at 865 N.W. Reiman Ave. sees 10 to 20 people a day at
breakfast and lunch and during evening open-kitchen hours. On Sundays, the
shelter stays open for breakfast an hour longer than usual.
Tom Garbacik, lead cook last Saturday and a deacon in the church, said the
breakfasts have been well attended.
While the turnout averages about 70, First Christian Church served 114 four
weeks ago, on the last Saturday of August. The end of the month always
brings more people.
"I think we're making a difference in terms of community hunger," Garbacik
said. "We are open to anybody. We don't ask, and we don't evangelize."
Gazette-Times reporter Wendy Geist can be contacted at
wendy.geist@lee.net or 758-9521.