After over two decades of serving soup to the local community, St Andrew, Sidney is very close to serving its 100,000th bowl of soup (and may well have served it by time this goes to press).
A small group of volunteers at St Andrew started making soup in 2003 to provide meals for individuals in the community living alone. The ministry, known as Neighbours Lunch, has since grown, with between 16 and 20 volunteers serving around 150 lunches each week. The lunches include soup, buns, desserts, tea, coffee and juice. A vegetarian option is usually available and the group tries to provide a gluten or dairy free, or both, option where possible.
Neighbours Lunch welcomes a broad spectrum of the Sidney community, including church members and unhoused individuals. Sandi De Luca has been co-ordinating Neighbours Lunch for the last six years. Sandi says they try to make everyone who attends the lunches feel loved. “There is a lot of joy in a few hours. We like to say that we feed the soul as well as the tummy.”
Pre-pandemic, St Andrew was one of four churches in Sidney serving lunches on different days of the week. However, St Andrew is the only church that has resumed its soup lunches. Neighbours Lunch also serves a popular turkey dinner at Christmas and provides soup for the Friends of St Andrew, an outreach program that takes food out on to the streets twice a week to those who need it.
READ: St Andrew, Sidney parishioners on retreat, sharing food and friendship on the streets
Neigbours Lunch serves soup on Wednesday from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. at the church hall (9691 Fourth Street, Sidney). For more information contact [email protected] or call 250-656-5322.
