By
Tina Sipula
Spring was short-lived here in Central
Illinois, but with it and the Lenten Promise of hope and resurrection, we were
very blessed by the generosity of several churches and organizations that did
food drives for us. We thank two
churches, especially, Holy Apostles Orthodox Church and St. John’s Lutheran
Church, who annually collect food for us during the whole Lenten Season. Both churches get their youth groups involved
to collect and deliver the food during their 40 days of fasting and good
works. Truckloads of canned goods and
dry goods were hauled in by young strong arms each week and we are encouraged
to be witnesses of their faith in action.
Last week was the annual Postal Worker’s
food drive, and we were blessed to receive a truckload of food from the
generosity of many within our community.
We have been promised a collection from the Mennonite Church this
summer, and we hope that more churches or organizations or Bible Study Camps
would adopt us also. It is these
mini-food drives that help us get through the summer months when our numbers in
the line and at the soup kitchen swell.
Approximately 80-100 people are in our
food line, and our soup kitchen, “Loaves and Fishes,” feeds about the same
number of folks each week. With school
letting out soon, we know there will be many children at our door and at our
tables. Last week, one of our benefactors
donated 90 Subway sandwiches to the soup kitchen, and it was a real treat! For the past few months, Schooner’s Restaurant
has donated soup and bread to “Loaves and Fishes,” and we all feel as if we
have suddenly gone gourmet! One day,
while feasting at Schooner’s, I was so impressed with their tomato basil soup
that I asked for the recipe. One of the
owners of the restaurant replied, “Better yet, we will make it and bring it to
you with homemade bread from the Grove Street Bakery!” We pray it is a relationship that will last a
long time!
Our annual summer visitors, Fr. Patrick
Caveglia and Moira Sennet will arrive to bless our home in July. Fr. Patrick has been vacationing here at
Clare House since we opened in 1978, but it is more of a vacation for me, as he
takes over much of the cooking, pitches in at the soup kitchen and helps Bob
and I put up sweet corn for the winter.
Moira has been helping out every summer for about a dozen years and
loves our trips to the soup kitchen and helps me can and freeze what is donated
from local gardens. As a teacher of
English and Theology, she scours the Clare House library and works on lesson
plans to promote moral and ethical teachings to combat a world seemingly gone
mad with consumerism, war, and injustice and a church hierarchy that runs rampant
with rules, rubrics and sexism. Moira
also gives Bob and me a little break so we can take our summer week off so we
can have time to ourselves. August
means many gardens will be flourishing.
For the first time, Illinois Wesleyan University is growing a garden for
us, and we are delighted! The people in
our lines seldom get fresh produce, so we are happy to pass it on to them each
summer and autumn. If you have extra to
share, just put it on our front porch with any bags you may have, and it will
disappear very quickly. (I swear there
are people living in our front yard tree and just watch for what lands on the
porch!)
We dedicate this humble issue to how small
things can make a big difference in the world.
Dorothy Day, co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement, dedicated her
life to living the Gospel, among the destitute, the homeless, the sick and
unwanted and worked “little by little” to restore them to dignity and
self-respect. If everyone does their
little part, what a different and blessed world this would be!
