Mt. Joy United Methodist Church Soup Kitchen!

I am blessed to have had a selfless grandmother who spent countless hours in the church’s soup kitchen every Tuesday morning. When I wasn’t in school, I would hang out there with her and the other seniors who would feed the less fortunate, who would come for food and devotion. Years later, who knew that it would become a passion within me to serve others through cooking.

Last weekend, my mom and I served at Mt. Joy United Methodist Church in Wilmington, DE. She serves once a month with them in any capacity to serve the homeless for her AIDS Task Force committee. She invited me to come with her and serve. A group of diverse individuals, including 10-year-old Mika who has been serving from a young age with her grandmother, gather each Sunday to serve the people who come into the church. This week, they served oatmeal, sausage, biscuits, eggs and grits. The kitchen was set to serve each person who walked through the door. Each the program happens each week, Ms. Dee, who ran the kitchen, knew each special order.

As the time came to prepare more eggs, Ms. Dee asked who wanted to cook the eggs. I stepped up not knowing what I was getting myself into. Because they are super prepared, the eggs were already cracked and whisked for scrambled eggs. I grabbed a hair net, gloves and headed to the stove. I never knew how long and hard it would be to make pounds of eggs. Ms. Dee even showed me a cool trick to alternate between scrambling the eggs on and off the heat to keep them light and fluffy. After spending about an hour over a hot stove, we served over 100 people. I couldn’t believe how fulfilling and challenging it was to cook there. I was so happy that I chose to volunteer with Mt. Joy. I was even invited to come back any time I wanted to serve.

Even though, the purpose of the program is to feed and provide a safe place for people to come and fellowship; the time spent stirred up my gift. It meant so much to be able to use my gift to give back to the community. I will definitely return to Mt. Joy to serve!