More than a meal
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Published in News on November 27, 2014 1:34 AM
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Wayne Country Day School fifth-graders Nathan Taylor, 10, and Grace Alan Potts, 11, serve guests bread and dessert at the Community Soup Kitchen on Tuesday.
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News-Argus/MELISSA KEY
Frank Farrell, a regular volunteer at the soup kitchen, hands a warm meal to a hungry soup kitchen patron.
Doricia Benton will not close the door.
"I won't turn anyone away," she said.
It's a philosophy that has left her making sandwiches during business meetings for people at her door.
"To utter those words, 'We're closed,' I cannot do that," she said.
Her office door sits cracked open.
The noise does not bother her.
If anything, it serves as a reminder that her family is always working.
Her volunteer calendar is full of loyal servers.
She often fields phone calls from community members -- asking how to help and what they need.
"We're very blessed to have the community support to help take care of my friends," she said.
The truth is, the Community Soup Kitchen would not be able to function without their help.
Demand is up from last year and Ms. Benton expects to serve at least 5,000 more meals than she did in 2013.
But she doesn't worry about whether her organization can keep up.
And she never considers closing her doors.
When she moved to the kitchen's current location on Oak Street in 2004, they were serving 19,000 meals a year.
A decade later, Ms. Benton and her peers are serving 45,000.
"They are not a number to me," she said. "(The people we feed are) my second family."
The soup kitchen serves meals from 11 a.m. to noon Monday through Friday.
And help is always welcome.
Ms. Benton said she aims to utilize all the donations provided by the community.
"We need help, not just during the holidays," she said.
Ms. Benton began volunteering as a teenager with her mother. They called themselves "The Tuesday Lunch Bunch."
"I walked in and never walked out," she said.
Her mentor, Barbara Berkeley, taught her the joys of service.
"She opened a part of my heart that I never knew existed," Ms. Benton said. "It's very easy to help someone. It takes more energy to turn away."
She does not plan on turning away anytime soon.
And today, she will, again, open her doors -- on Thanksgiving, just one of the many days she celebrates.
"It's a celebration every day," she says. "The soup kitchen is a door of opportunity and I love that."