Story and photos by Robert Stronach, OFS, contributing writer
Above: Bishop Douglas Lucia and Advisory Board Chair Darren Woods at Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen.
UTICA — The aroma of cooking was the first thing Syracuse Bishop Douglas J. Lucia noticed.
“Oh, that smells good!”
The bishop decided to stop in at Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen and Boutique on Oct. 7, two weeks before the canonization anniversary day of the soup kitchen’s namesake (St. Marianne Cope). He was between official visits to Notre Dame Junior/Senior High School and Historic Old St. John’s Church.
Parish Trustee Karl Schmidt had met Bishop outside and escorted him into the soup kitchen. He then introduced Darren Woods, who chairs the operation’s advisory board.
Bishop Douglas Lucia blesses volunteers at Mother Marianne’s Boutique.
Woods introduced kitchen manager Mike Pilat and explained some of the renovations and changes to better accommodate feeding the hungry. Bishop Lucia watched as hot meals were prepared and volunteers scurried about, and he checked out the chapel and dining hall.
“I heard about it,” he said, but now was “seeing it” firsthand.
He was led upstairs to meet coordinator Nancy Robert, who took him on a tour of the salon with its barber’s chair, two storage rooms full of clothes, footwear, toiletries and toys, and finally the boutique where personal shoppers accompany folks to help them pick out whatever they need — shirts, blouses, pants, dresses, underwear, socks, shoes, boots, sweatshirts, jackets, personal care items, and more.
Bishop Lucia, Robert and Woods discussed the situation of the homeless, the unemployed and those struggling
Kitchen Manager Mike Pilat and volunteer Joyce Squilluci prepare food line prior to opening the soup kitchen doors.
to make ends meet, and the services being provided, including finding fellowship during the soup kitchen’s hours. The bishop noted that sometimes “just listening to someone” makes a difference. He recounted an anecdote about a boy walking along a beach dotted with thousands of starfish. The boy picked up one and threw it back into the ocean. He walked some more, picked up another and put it back in the water. An older person wondered how much difference it makes with so many starfish stranded on the beach. The boy threw another starfish into the ocean and said, “It makes a difference to that one.”
Before offering a blessing over volunteers, Bishop Lucia was chatting with Robert in front of a doorway, sandwiched between the words, “Our Lord,” on one wall and a poster of the Good Samaritan on the other.
Perhaps it was a sign of the meeting of minds. The poster proclaimed: “Go and Do the Same.”
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FACT IS: Need is growing: 43,319 meals so far this year
The need is there, and it’s growing.
Kitchen manager Mike Pilat reports a significant increase in meals being served at Mother Marianne’s West Side Kitchen.
The first three quarters of 2024 have already outpaced all of 2023.
“We went by last year’s total of 43,182 with 43,319 meals served as of September 30,” he noted.
The soup kitchen served hot meals and bagged lunches totaling well over 5,000 per month for the past quarter. In the past three months (July-September), a total of 15,988 meals fed 11,192 adults, 3,518 senior citizens, and 1,278 children, cumulatively.
