Oxford soup kitchen reopens Monday
OXFORD – The Taste N’ See Soup Kitchen is reopening its doors Monday. The soup kitchen first opened November 1998 as part of the Make a Difference Project, said organizer Charles McMullen. In 1998, while searching for a unique name with which to christen the soup kitchen, McMullen stumbled upon a Bible passage in Psalms that inspired him. Ever since then, for 35 Mondays every year, 115 or so hungry people crowd together at St. Paul’s Episcopal Parish House on 32 Main St. in Oxford to “taste and see.”
“We hope people who need it come, but everyone is welcome,” said McMullen. “They come from everywhere, from all over the county.”
McMullen tries to extend the hospitality of the kitchen as far as possible, opening the doors at 4 p.m. for coffee and serving dinner at 5:30 p.m.
The volunteers are comprised of a number of different groups, like the 8th grade middle schoolers who come over to serve food, or the Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts. There are even kids who just need community service hours. BOCES special needs group comes in Monday afternoons before the kitchen opens to the public and readies the parish hall. “They have been doing that for us the past 10 years,” said McMullen.
Still, a need more volunteers is always prevalent and there is something for anyone to do. Many of the people who volunteer grow loyal to the soup kitchen and keep coming back for more. “We all love doing it,” McMullen said. The soup kitchen does more than just feed the needy, it knits people together in the most comforting of ways. “The whole thing is really a family affair,” he said.
On top of the food services that are provided, Taste N’ See tries to inform people of other services and public assistance, acting as an information hub for the needy. “We try and make them aware of other things going on in the community that might benefit them,” said McMullen.
The soup kitchen developed a new program last year through a grant from the R.C. Smith Foundation. The kitchen promised to make extra food on top of the normal left overs and make to-go containers for people to take home, providing them with a meal for another day. The packaged food program proved such a success that McMullen is eager to run it again.
As of late, McMullen is happy to report that the soup kitchen has been feeding a lot more families as parents come in together with their children. Most of the people who show up on Mondays are elderly. Some need the food, but there are also those who need the social interaction more than anything. “Of course they also love the food and eat as much as the can,” he laughed.
Everyone who comes to the kitchen is guaranteed a good cooked meal at no cost, thanks to all of the generous supporters, and there will always be food to take home, such as baked goods and other foodstuffs donated by the Food Bank.
At Taste N See Soup Kitchen, there is “no harassment with paper work; people are just given a number and a hot plate of food,” said McMullen. The staff wait on them like patrons to “make them feel as though they are dining at a restaurant and sometimes they even act like they are.”
Of the people who come on Mondays, maybe 50 will be elderly and another 30 or so will be adults with children, perhaps as many as 20 to 25 kids total. Lately teenagers have also started to come on their own.
The soup kitchen used to be paid for purely with traditional donations from individuals, said McMullen. But the kitchen has always been tough to budget. Now it receives aid from a number of different organizations such as Chenango United Way, New York State Food Bank, Evelyn Emerson Foundation, and big contributions from the R.C. Smith and Roger Follett foundations. McMullen said he is grateful for any help he can get, and estimates it takes at least $1,200 to keep the kitchen running. All of the donated money goes directly to purchasing food because the kitchen staff volunteer their time.
McMullen decided to dedicate his life to giving back to the community in 1996 when he found out he was most likely going to die without a liver transplant. Although he did receive the much needed transplant in 2000, he had already begun giving.
“We hope people who need it come, but everyone is welcome,” said McMullen. “They come from everywhere, from all over the county.”
McMullen tries to extend the hospitality of the kitchen as far as possible, opening the doors at 4 p.m. for coffee and serving dinner at 5:30 p.m.
The volunteers are comprised of a number of different groups, like the 8th grade middle schoolers who come over to serve food, or the Girls Scouts and Boy Scouts. There are even kids who just need community service hours. BOCES special needs group comes in Monday afternoons before the kitchen opens to the public and readies the parish hall. “They have been doing that for us the past 10 years,” said McMullen.
Still, a need more volunteers is always prevalent and there is something for anyone to do. Many of the people who volunteer grow loyal to the soup kitchen and keep coming back for more. “We all love doing it,” McMullen said. The soup kitchen does more than just feed the needy, it knits people together in the most comforting of ways. “The whole thing is really a family affair,” he said.
On top of the food services that are provided, Taste N’ See tries to inform people of other services and public assistance, acting as an information hub for the needy. “We try and make them aware of other things going on in the community that might benefit them,” said McMullen.
The soup kitchen developed a new program last year through a grant from the R.C. Smith Foundation. The kitchen promised to make extra food on top of the normal left overs and make to-go containers for people to take home, providing them with a meal for another day. The packaged food program proved such a success that McMullen is eager to run it again.
As of late, McMullen is happy to report that the soup kitchen has been feeding a lot more families as parents come in together with their children. Most of the people who show up on Mondays are elderly. Some need the food, but there are also those who need the social interaction more than anything. “Of course they also love the food and eat as much as the can,” he laughed.
Everyone who comes to the kitchen is guaranteed a good cooked meal at no cost, thanks to all of the generous supporters, and there will always be food to take home, such as baked goods and other foodstuffs donated by the Food Bank.
At Taste N See Soup Kitchen, there is “no harassment with paper work; people are just given a number and a hot plate of food,” said McMullen. The staff wait on them like patrons to “make them feel as though they are dining at a restaurant and sometimes they even act like they are.”
Of the people who come on Mondays, maybe 50 will be elderly and another 30 or so will be adults with children, perhaps as many as 20 to 25 kids total. Lately teenagers have also started to come on their own.
The soup kitchen used to be paid for purely with traditional donations from individuals, said McMullen. But the kitchen has always been tough to budget. Now it receives aid from a number of different organizations such as Chenango United Way, New York State Food Bank, Evelyn Emerson Foundation, and big contributions from the R.C. Smith and Roger Follett foundations. McMullen said he is grateful for any help he can get, and estimates it takes at least $1,200 to keep the kitchen running. All of the donated money goes directly to purchasing food because the kitchen staff volunteer their time.
McMullen decided to dedicate his life to giving back to the community in 1996 when he found out he was most likely going to die without a liver transplant. Although he did receive the much needed transplant in 2000, he had already begun giving.
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