Soup Kitchen Reflection

My experience at the soup kitchen was interesting because I was thinking about the idea that soup kitchens are inherently are not positive for our society. Last summer I read a book called The Stop, the premise of the book revolved around a food pantry that was transformed into a community center. This food pantry transformed into a community center that offered cooking classes, after school programming, a garden, political activism,and much more. The food pantry started of like many others as a place where food is distributed to citizens that needed the food. The director of this food pantry realized this was not doing a service to community and started the transformation. The reason he believed it was a disservice because he felt it was a band-aid for the issues surrounding food insecurity. He explained that soup kitchens and food pantries started just to supplement during hard times. He said that there shouldn't be prolonged time people are attending soup kitchens and food pantries. He argued that there needs to be political action taken to ensure that everyone is able to eat and not rely heavily on soup kitchens or food pantries. The systemic problems with minimum wage and food stamps were perpetuating food injustices. During his time at the community center he worked against all forms of food injustices. After reading this book I do believe that there is something systemically wrong that so many people can not not afford the basic human right of providing themselves with food. But it's also difficult for me to fully commit to saying that soup kitchens are bad for our society.

While volunteering at the soup kitchen this idea was in the back of my mind the whole time. It's hard to subscribe to this thinking when you see people of all ages lined up to eat lunch. I believe that Bev does a great job handling everything with the Soup Kitchen. And it would be difficult for here to implement any new programs. I was thinking of how this soup kitchen could be a platform for battling food injustice in Meadville. I was thinking there would have to be an educational push in the staff and clients of the soup kitchen. I think that there would have to be lessons on food injustices and solutions to fixing them. The Stop also focused on political and food empowerment for the clients they were serving. I also believe that this would be something that should be addressed. With all this being said I don't think it would be accomplished at the Meadville Soup Kitchen. There are many resources and involvement that I don't think is available to them. But I do believe that soup kitchens should be a platform for education about food injustice. By serving at this soup kitchen I see the clear need for the space but I believe that other issues need to be addressed when thinking about hunger.