When the Corona pandemic started people thought it was just a passing experience and within a few days’ things would go back to normal. The reality today is far from it.
After hearing word that a lot of people within our community were losing jobs and families were going hungry, one of our parishioners wanted to start a “Olla Comun” or “Soup Kitchen” as it is called in English to help feed families who can’t afford it.
When this project started we realized that a lot of people within our community were really supportive by donating things like clothes, shoes, and vegetables so we can reach to more people.
We have been serving now for two weeks and even though there are other soup kitchens close by people still flock to ours and sometimes arrive an hour early just to confirm if we will be opening.
Thanks to the great support of our volunteers, it’s not just food and winter clothes that we offer in our service, it’s also about listening to the stories of families who are willing to share. Families who have single mothers struggling by selling vegetables in the local market or people who have been living in the street due to a lot of wrong choices in life. It gives people a sense of comfort knowing they can come to our kitchen and share about their life.
Although not all people are willing to share, there are still so many people embarrassed to come to our kitchen because of the gossip they might hear from the neighbors. That is one of our main challenges here, but we are hopeful that God’s grace may them help to understand and help each other find unity, harmony, and solidarity especially in this pandemic era.
The Columbans are a society of missionaries, including priests and lay people, who minister to people of various cultures as a way of witnessing to the universal love of God.