Two dozen women from across the South Fork gathered Monday night at Grace Presbyterian Church in Water Mill to kick off a season of soup-making in which the goal is to prepare 1,000 quarts of hearty, homemade soup for people facing food insecurity and homelessness.
Each provided tools such as knives and cutting boards to share. Together, they chopped up vegetables and other ingredients donated by the Milk Pail to ultimately prepare big vats of vegetarian black bean chili and vegan rosemary pumpkin soup.
The effort will benefit Heart of the Hamptons, a food pantry based in Southampton. It is spearheaded by Delaney Oser, the owner of Thyme & Again Catering and co-president of the Southampton Kiwanis Club. Ms. Oser said it’s the fourth year of the massive soup-making effort, which typically takes eight to 10 group cooking sessions to complete by the time spring rolls around.
“It’s a feel-good way to serve the community,” she said.
It was also considered Ladies’ Night Out for the volunteers themselves, who meet monthly for social activities such as trivia night, sunset kayaking, and bowling. This month’s session, they decided, would be devoted to this charitable project.
Adriana Pariz, the ministry director at Grace Presbyterian Church, said it “aligns really well” with the goals of both Ladies’ Night Out and the ministry program. The ministry also takes part in holiday gift-giving for the Retreat domestic violence shelter and cooks food on other occasions for the traveling Maureen’s Haven homeless shelter program.
Another church staff member, Lesley Middlekauff, who runs the youth ministry, said the monthly social activities for women started as an extension of the youth group. “It provides opportunities for our community to connect,” she said. “Part of the mission statement is to find ways to serve our community. This is great because it’s kind of doing two things at once.”
At the end of the night, the volunteers had collectively made 80 quarts of soup. Those interested in helping out can call the church at 631-726-6100.
