For a decade, Joyce DiPaolo was a fixture at the soup kitchen nestled inside Christ Church on Prince William Street in St. Stephen.
DiPaolo began coordinating a community soup kitchen on the first Friday of November 2006. She served in the kitchen for its first ten years after losing her life to a battle with colon cancer.
It’s why the soup kitchen, which has operated for two decades, bears her name.
“We have been running ever since,” said volunteer Jocelyn Groom. “It has changed the format somewhat over the years.”
Groom said the soup kitchen was established after the Anglican rector became concerned about rising electricity costs.
“He was concerned the people in the community with limited means would struggle having a healthy meal,” she said. “It was decided we would do a soup kitchen every Friday.”
Over time, the congregation has aged, and like so many other organizations was stifled by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The pandemic hit, and of course, it was difficult to do anything,” Groom said. “We couldn’t do anything here in the hall. So we did take out.”
Volunteers prepared and delivered meals for the two years while the pandemic prevented them from gathering together.
For Groom and fellow volunteer Irene Adams, it is not just about the meal; it is about socialization.
“Some folks don’t have a lot of family support,” Groom said. “We try to be friends and help out with advice and whatever their needs may be at any given point in time. It started as a really small group and now it’s much larger.”
The soup kitchen regularly serves 30 people, with attendance sometimes as high as 50 people.
Over time, people who regularly attend have stepped up to help the soup kitchen.
“We have people that [sic] stay and clean up and take down the tables and put them away,” Adams said. “They’ve taken ownership. It’s not just us doing something for the community. It’s people helping each other.”
Together, they have built a community of their own.
Two of those regulars are Charlene Somers and Ellen Elliott.
For Somers, many of the people she has come to know at the soup kitchen have become family.
“Irene and Jocelyn are both good cooks,” Somers said. “Irene’s husband Don, he was an awesome cook.”
Somers invited Elliott to the soup kitchen, where Elliot’s handwriting eventually led her to become its record-keeper.
“I became part of the community because I moved away,” she said.
Both have their favourite meals, but they say everything served at the kitchen is delicious.
“It’s not just a soup kitchen, it’s a gathering, and it provides other things as well,” said Elliott.
The Rev. Robert Pitman said the soup kitchen started small but has evolved to a broader community ministry.
He said it was about planting seeds and seeing how they grow and blossom.
“I’m excited to see what else maybe we can spark from this and just ways we can bless,” he said.
Everyone is welcome at Joyce’s Soup Kitchen, and volunteers said they are ready and willing to work with anyone who has dietary restrictions.
“We’ve always considered ourselves to be a judgement free zone,” said Groom. “Anyone is welcome and the only stipulation we have is that you have to be respectful. It has always worked up until this point.”
