Soup kitchen draws sizable crowd at Holy Apostles

By Jefferson Siegel

Hunger doesn’t take a holiday, which is why on Labor Day, the soup kitchen at Chelsea’s Church of the Holy Apostles was running full-tilt.

“We expect to serve 1,40ad executive director of the soup kitchen.

“We are breaking records right and left,” “Father Bill” said as the needy filled tables in the church’s sanctuary. He was concerned about hunger in the city. “In August, we served more meals than anytime in our history. I think our city and our mayor are trying to do some very good things, but we’re marking our 25th anniversary on October 22, and we’ve served more than 6 million meals in that time.”

“We try to be a welcoming place,” he said as dozens of volunteers filled trays with sloppy joes, potato salad, baked beans and pasta salad. After the meal, there were ice cream sundaes with red, white and blue sprinkles and, to commemorate the holiday, a tiny American flag. “Our mantra is, we look people in the eye and welcome them as honored guests.”

The Church doesn’t just fill stomachs, however. “We don’t want to just serve meals. The Project Renewal health van is here three days a week, and we do job training with Common Ground,” said “Father Bill,” who added that the kitchen costs $9,000 a day, or $2.5 million a year. About 15 percent of that comes from government sources, while the rest is private.

In addition to the soup kitchen, the church hosts Beth Simcha Torah services, nine AA meetings a week and the Holy Apostles Community Chorus, an organ concert series.