Giving is year-round at Harvest House

Every Sunday evening from 5 to 6 p.m., the Harvest House soup kitchen serves up a home cooked meal at St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church for those in need.

The idea for a soup kitchen was created by Harvest House Meal Site Coordinator Cindy DiNino a little over a year ago, when she noticed a stark increase in the number of people visiting the town’s food bank.

DiNino wanted to create “an outreach program and also do something for Thanksgiving,” she recalled.

After an initial trial-run, the Sunday dinner became a permanent project of Harvest House and St. Stephen’s as a way of helping address the consequences of the current economic troubles.

To make this happen DiNino and others from Harvest House met with representatives from other churches and local businesses in hopes of gaining sponsorship.

The Harvest house is now sponsored by a number of local churches including St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Hadlyme Congregational Church, Moodus United Methodist Church, Christ Community Church and First Church of Christ Congregational.

Business and organization sponsors include Westchester Market – which provides the soup kitchen with both meat and poultry at wholesale prices – and Eastern Rental Tent & Party Supplies, as well as the East Haddam Community Lions and Girl Scout troops.

Individuals such as artisan bread maker John Gibson and gardener Bernie Gillis also contribute to the weekly meal.

As of Jan. 25, The Harvest House Soup kitchen will provide a free hot meal and dessert every Sunday evening.

The season for giving

The Harvest House soup kitchen held a holiday party this Sunday. The special super included a visit from Santa Claus, as well as gift bags, candy and homemade ornaments for the children in attendance.

“We got together and got donations from here and there. We put together gift bags and the children of St. Stephen’s made ornaments,” DiNino said.

Unfortunately, the turnout wasn’t what was expected because of the snow storm.

What you can do to help

Another upcoming project for Harvest House is remodeling St. Stephen’s kitchen, which is heavily used by the soup kitchen. According to DiNino, “We’re looking get a grant to get the kitchen redone and have the stoves replaced with commercial grade stoves.”

When asked about the number of donations the soup kitchen receives, DiNino responded, “They can always be better.”

Currently,  most of the volunteers who help at the soup kitchen come from sponsoring churches. Each week a different church brings in four volunteers, but there is always room for more helping hands.

For more information on Harvest House, contact Meal Site Coordinator Cindy DiNino at 860-873-3022. Those interested in volunteering may contact Kathy Ibbotson at 860-873-9322.

Posted Dec. 25, 2009