Each Saturday in Lent, 20 to 25 parishioners of St. Mary of Mount Carmel-Blessed Sacrament Parish in Utica have gathered to make sandwiches for Mother Marianne’s Westside Kitchen at St. Joseph-St. Patrick Church in West Utica.
The kitchen serves food to people who are needy in the city. It is dedicated to St. Marianne Cope, who grew up in Utica. She helped found St. Elizabeth Hospital in Utica and St. Joseph Hospital in Syracuse. She was canonized on Oct. 21, 2012, by Pope Benedict XVI.
The kitchen celebrated its ninth anniversary in March. Helping out with the sandwiches were, from left in the photo, Patricia Soldato, Maria Soldato, and Connie Watkins.
Other Lenten activities in the parish include Confirmation candidates making Easter baskets for children of the Thea Bowman House Daycare Center; a several-week presentation by Father Jim Cesta, the pastor, on the Acts of the Apostles; a Christian Seder supper; a three-day parish Lenten Renewal coming in April; and the traditional Stations of the Cross each Friday. To learn more about the parish, visit www.mountcarmelblessedsacrament.com.
