Soup Bowl for the soul
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Pix courtesy Soup Bowl
It’s a Friday afternoon as the Scott Hall of the Methodist church in Colpetty, slowly filled up. The sound of pleasant chatter, backed by beautiful smiles, greets one at the door. Men andwomen, both old and young and from all walks of life. They were those who could not afford the luxuries of a fancy luncheon that some of us could, let alone a simple lunch. And to some this probably was the only meal that they would have for the day.
The project which is called the ‘Drop in centre’ is one undertaken by “The ‘Soup Bowl’, which is a hospitality ministry, aimed at serving those who are underprivileged. As a mission which started off initially, with wanting to provide a meal to orphans and poor people, it has functioned for almost two and a half years,” its founder Rishani Sittampalam tells us.
“My parents are deceased and I live away from home. So I want to take something of home to a person who does not have that sense of home and security,” she says adding that they strive to do their best to provide a home cooked meal to someone who needs it.
The Soup Bowl is a monthly project and the team visits orphanages, elders homes and single parent households. They also conduct a 100 Christmas gift programme, where money is collected over the year and essential items are bought and distributed among the underprivileged. Aside from Rishani, it also comprises of Erandi Narangoda, Jamie Alphonsus, Kshanika Argent, Pasan David and several other volunteers.
“So the Soup bowl is basically the mother and under that we have our weekly projects, one of which is the ‘drop in centre’. Rishani explains adding that they hope to open it up one day as a soup kitchen. Where they can cook a hot meal and serve three meals and provide education to those who need it.
“Right now we are providing soft skills to a girl, who is a differently abled adult. So we teach her things like sewing etc. We also teach some others spoken English, Rishani says adding that they had a young child coming over for the class, all the way from Negombo, later on that day.
Generally the drop in centre has a group of around 80-90 people, who come in. And it ranges from elderly people, to security guards and street cleaners etc. “Anyone can come and we would offer them food. You just have to be hungry for a meal, no one is turned away,” she says adding that even though it’s done in a Christian place it goes beyond all ethnic and religious beliefs. We don’t know their ethnic backgrounds and it doesn’t really matter, what matters, is that they come here and fellowship over a meal.”
The project initially took form last year (2015), when Rishani and her friend Nina had wanted to give a meal to the poor people near Visakha road. But they didn’t have the space or a kitchen for it. That’s when they approached Rev. Angeleena of the Methodist church, who told them that they could use the Scott hall, because it was available during lunch hours.
“The food is usually bought from Lantheruma (The Lantern), which gives them a chicken lunch with five vegetables at a very nominal price of 150 rupees. The money for the food is usually obtained via donations, for which the Soup bowl places requests on their Facebook page.
Eighty lunch packets are bought, which sums up to 12,000 rupees and sometimes as more people come in, more packets are bought. To donate, one can either sponsor the lunches by financing them or pledge to provide eighty packets on a Friday, which can be dropped off at the Scott Hall. Prior to doing this they request that you call at the beginning of the week to keep them informed.
“Rs.12,000 rupees is our need, but you can give anything you can. We usually have people who give us the cash or someone who will sponsor the food like an alms giving. You could either give us 80 packets or 60 packets and we will buy the rest,” she says.
The lunch is served between 1.30 pm and 4 pm and the leftovers are sent off with the families, who are present at the end of the evening so that food does not go waste. The drop in centre also provides an evening cup of tea, for those who stick around. This is usually given by the church. They also accept donations of tea time snacks.
“Whatever our needs are we usually put it on our Facebook page. And since this has been happening here, we have had certain people from the church who also donate,” Rishani tells us.
The Drop in Centre is more than just a place where people come to get food. Most of those who come there do so for the company. And many of them have a heart-warming story to relate.
“Most of these people want to talk. I think with most of our projects, even with the homes, they don’t want us to bring anything fancy, they just want our time. They want to sit down and talk to you, that’s all they need,” she says.
Apart from the Drop in Centre, Soup bowl also has their daily project which is called ‘WeGiveStuffAway’ (WGSA). This is where they have a couple of outlets that give them their leftover groceries or surplus groceries. It is done every night from about 9.30 pm to 12 am. “We go about from place to place collecting the vegetables and then we go deliver it to the needy, like families or even homes and orphanages,” She tells us.
It’s the lack of volunteers that is their main challenge, she explains. Especially when it comes to lunch, most of the people are working at that time. They also face a lack of volunteers in their grocery arm.
“We also need people to teach classes. If someone would like to volunteer their time, to teach a child for an hour or so that would be a blessing,” Rishani adds.
Aside from this, Rishani works as well. And when I ask her how she balances this with her work, she looks me in the eye, with a smile, “You don’t have the time. It’s just that you make it a priority because people should matter at the end of the day. Our priorities are such that sometimes it’s baseless. People don’t have the time for one on one communication. With Soup Bowl we encourage people to get to know those who are underprivileged and hope that maybe it would touch their hearts.”
For donations or ways to volunteer, they could be reached on https://www.facebook.com/TheSoupBowlSriLanka/
(JS)