York’s Wesley UMC re-opens soup kitchen to provide meals, fellowship

It was dreary and wet Monday, but in the Grace and Mercy Soup Kitchen in York, volunteers were ready to dish up a serving of warm soup and fellowship.

The soup kitchen, in the fellowship hall at Wesley United Methodist Church, 110 W. Jefferson St., served people in western York County for six years until 2014, when it closed.

On Monday, it opened again.

“It had been one of our beloved ministries at Wesley,” said coordinator Phyllis Moore-Ward. “And there’s always a need to help people in need.”

The kitchen will serve hot meals to the needy, seniors, poor and shut-ins from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays, Moore-Ward said. There is the potential for it to be open more days in 2016, she said.

Beverly Bell was among a handful of volunteers who prepared soup Monday, when a half-dozen diners showed up in the first 30 minutes the kitchen was open.

The crowd was small, but Ball and other volunteers were not discouraged. They know the need for a hot meal is there, and they expect larger crowds as word about the kitchen’s opening spreads in the community.

“We want to cater to the community’s needs, and there are people who are less fortunate and senior citizens,” Bell said. “Sometimes, you never know what people’s circumstances are.”

Joyce Moore, Moore-Ward’s sister, said the soup kitchen was started in 2008 by Mamie Wells, a member of the church. Wells was not able to be there Monday, Moore said, but she sent a batch of cornbread for the diners.

Moore, who volunteered at the soup kitchen in the past, said it usually attracted around 30 diners, and sometimes fewer when the weather was bad, as it was Monday.

Volunteers are in the process of planning menus for the coming weeks, said Moore-Ward. They include soup and cornbread, chili and crackers, spaghetti and hot dogs.

In the past, some local restaurants have provided discounts on meals that were served at the kitchen, and grocery stores have donated food, too, volunteers said.

The soup kitchen not only provides a meal, it provides fellowship, Moore-Ward said.

“We want to expand the soup kitchen to meet the needs of the members, of the community, those that are dealing with unemployment issues, physical health issues, mental health issues,” she said.

This story was originally published November 10, 2015 at 3:14 PM with the headline "York’s Wesley UMC re-opens soup kitchen to provide meals, fellowship."