By Rick Dandes
SUNBURY — Many assume soup kitchens are for the hopeless and homeless, but in these difficult times that’s not the case anymore.
More and more people are struggling financially — even for a hot meal.
This is not news to Steven and Connie Lenig, of Northumberland, who have been addressing that growing need and offering free meals for almost 20 years.
The Lenigs founded Elijah’s Bowl, a community soup kitchen, at Sunbury’s First Presyterian Church, in 1991. “On that first day,” Steve Lenig recalled, we prepared food to feed 100 people and wound up serving 11 meals. By the end of the year, however, we were serving 400 meals a month.”
For their efforts, the Lenigs have been selected to receive the Sunbury Rotary Club’s Citizen of the Year Award. The award will be presented at a ceremony at the Hotel Edison on March 25.
Elijah Bowl serves lunch from 10:30 a.m. to noon every Saturday, .
Taking part in a free lunch is not always easy for those unaccustomed to needing a hot meal.
“We have several people coming in now who were at first very uncomfortable being here,” Steven Lenig said. “At Elijah’s Bowl, we try to make them as comfortable as possible and help them to realize things happen — you’ll get through this.”
Steve Lenig said 2009 saw a jump in the number of people coming for lunch. “We were up to 140 to 150 people. It had a lot to do with the economy. Right now, we have seen fewer people, maybe 120 people a week. Is that a sign that our local economy is improving? I don’t know.”
The Lenigs are clear about the purpose of Elijah’s Bowl: at lunchtime every Saturday, they address not only physical hunger, but people’s need to be heard and to feel loved. Everyone is welcome.
“We accept everyone here,” Steve Lenig said. “We don’t ask what their income is. In the beginning, we had people come in with suits on because they wanted to see what it was all about. And through that, they gave us money because they saw what we were doing. We don’t care who comes in.”
Volunteers greet guests by their first names and offer compassion through a listening ear, a prayer, or the human touch of a hug, handshake or a smile. Guests have developed friendships and a support network among themselves over the years.
Besides the prepared meals there is a give-away table set up with donated breads, cakes, pies and grocery items given to Elijah’s Bowl by area stores, restaurants and churches.
“As anyone can see,” Steve Lenig said, “this is not a First Presbyterian Church Soup Kitchen. This is a community soup kitchen. And without the support of the community, we would not be able to reach so many people.” The donated food comes from private sources, and stores like Weis and Giant.
This is like a rural soup kitchen, Connie Lenig said.
“The people who come here, we want to make them feel significant. We learn their names and call them by their first names. They usually sit at the same table every week, and cheer each other up until the next Saturday, when they can come in again.
“It’s a calling for me to be here,” she said. “I get more from it than they get from us.”
The way she sees it, “We are just giving one meal to a friend at a time. It’s as simple as that.”
