Steve Danneker, vice president of the Westfield Soup Kitchen, stands in for a photo op with volunteer Dina Mead.
Reminder Publishing file photo
WESTFIELD — The Westfield Soup Kitchen at 101 Meadow St. will offer a full homemade Thanksgiving meal on Nov. 27 at noon, dine-in or take-out.
There is no charge, and all are welcome.
Meal coordinator Stephen Danneker, who is vice president of the board and has been part of the soup kitchen since 2014, said they have been serving the noontime Thanksgiving meal for years, well before he became involved. “I don’t know how far it goes back, prior to my time. A gal from my church ran it.”
Danneker said the numbers for the Thanksgiving meal have fluctuated since COVID-19, and 40% of the meals they serve are still takeout, but every year, more and more people are dining in. “We used to serve about 60. Last year, we served 90 meals. This year, we’re expecting 90 to 100.”
Currently, they are looking for people to provide and roast turkeys, or to pick up and roast turkeys in the Soup Kitchen’s freezer. The turkeys are roasted in people’s homes and brought in on Wednesday evening between 4 and 6 p.m., cut down and sliced as they normally would be for meal service.
Memo’s in West Springfield always provides the turkey gravy. “It is literally the best gravy I’ve ever had,” Danneker said.
They are also looking for pies for dessert, pumpkin, apple or pecan. Normally they get 15 to 20 small pies, or a dozen large Costco pies. Also needed are cooked and mashed potatoes, usually 5 to 10 pounds each, and green bean casseroles — he said three large aluminum pans or eight to 10 small pans is enough.
People also normally provide between 15 and 20 pounds of cleaned and sliced carrots, which Danneker puts in a roaster with butter and a little water for roasted and sweet carrots. He said sliced carrots are preferable to baby carrots, which take longer to roast.
They can also always use cranberry sauce. “We never have enough. We usually go through 40 to 50 cans,” he said.
If somebody can’t help with the meal, the Soup Kitchen is always looking for monetary donations.
“The smallest amount really makes a difference,” Danneker said, adding that the overhead, including trash disposal costs have all gone up so much.
Usually, the Soup Kitchen gets eight to 10 helpers for the meal, and they are about halfway there at this point for the Thanksgiving meal.
“We normally get a big rush a couple of days before. It takes many hands for it to happen; truly,” he said.
Normally, the Westfield Soup Kitchen serves meals Sunday through Friday — every day except Saturday — at 5 p.m. On average, they’ve been serving between 50 and 75 meals.
“As things have been getting tougher, we’ve been seeing large numbers,” Danneker said.
They get folks that are homeless or receive assistance with housing, new immigrants, the elderly on a fixed income and single people who come in and connect with friends.
“We get a lot of families with kids — one woman has eight kids. Over the years, we’ve had new families with young kids. We have a variety. During COVID, we did have young people who looked like they were out of high school, but not as many now.”
Danneker said helpers for the meals come from churches, civic organizations, from Westfield State University and Westfield High School.
“There’s been a lot of interest from churches, civic organizations and schools,” he said. Young people from the National Honor Society and those needing community service hours volunteer as servers.
The Soup Kitchen is inspected by the city’s Board of Health, and runs based on Massachusetts Department of Health regulations, using temperature gauges, hair nets and gloves.
Theresa Allie is the keyholder coordinator for meal providers. Anyone interested in volunteering as a helping hand, can email the Soup Kitchen and will be referred to Allie.
“I am so privileged to have her as part of the board,” said Danneker. The interim president is John Danahey.
The Soup Kitchen may be reached at contact@westfieldsoupkitchen.org or 413-572-9147.
“Our goal is to be the hands and feet of Christ, and to provide a meal for those in need, especially now,” Danneker said.
