Something I saw on the news this morning reminded me of soup kitchens. For many years, before I became disabled I volunteered at a soup kitchen. I did every job from washing dishes to serving as the president of the organization, but my favorite job was cooking for our guests. Our volunteers helped serve the meal and do the general clean up after the meal. Most groups were from local churches, but there were a few other groups from various local clubs. All were surprised when they first came by who are guests were. The majority of our guests were family groups. They range from young families to older couples. A common reason for older couples to come to the soup kitchen was because of medical expenses. I remember one elderly couple in particular. The husband had had a kidney transplant and everything had gone well, but eventually, his health insurance ran out because of the ongoing expense of antirejection drugs. There is usually just so much an insurance company will pay out before they have the right to stop. The couple had lost everything they ever owned after that. With younger couples, most were working but at minimum wage jobs and trying to stretch their dollars as far as they could go and getting a free meal every now and then was one way to do it. Most people who volunteered thought they would be serving alcoholics and drug addicts. We did, but they were a very small percentage of our guests.
There seem to be some programs or alcoholics and drug addicts. One of our frequent guests was “Patrick the drunk.” Yes, that was the name everyone gave him. Social services tried to control his access to alcohol in various ways. If he went to a grocery store and bought groceries, the grocery store wouldn’t give him the groceries but they would give him the receipt which he could take to his social worker and get a check for that amount. The social worker would look over what was on the receipt to make sure there weren’t any alcohol sources. Patrick would then take his check and go pick up the groceries. What you and I would never consider drinking such as rubbing alcohol or aftershave lotion were common sources of alcohol for this group. I remember Patrick came in one afternoon and I don’t know what he was drinking but I commented on how bad his breath smelled. The next time he came in he came running over and blew on me and asked, “Is that better? I’ve been drinking mouthwash.”
There doesn’t seem to be any way for our society to help those bankrupt by medical expenses or working jobs that don’t pay enough to support a family or people with addictions. I’m sure there must be answers, but I don’t know what they are. In the meantime, what we can do is make sure they get a warm meal and a friendly place to enjoy it.
