By Christina Jones (NCC News)
November 11, 2010 5:00 p.m.
Samaritan sees a rise in visitors and a rise in making meals
Unemployment has hit Syracuse hard over the past two years, leading to a record high of needy people attending a local soup kitchen. The Samaritan Center Soup Kitchen is serving 350 meals a day at its St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral location in downtown Syracuse. This is about 20-percent more meals than they distributed last year.
"People are exhausting all their means and are turning to social services for help," resources and referral manager of Samaritan, Julie Gilbert said.
People who are in need
One-fourth of the residents in the City of Syracuse live in poverty. In the suburbs, one out of every eight people lives in poverty.
“We find that a lot of our guests are people who are making choices between food and rent, food and medication, food and stuff for their kids,” Gilbert said.
A lot of the people attending Samaritan are the working poor, large families, under-employed or people who are part-time, and are seen more frequently than people who are homeless, according to Gilbert.
Samaritan needs more volunteers
The kitchen is in desperate need of volunteers as winter approaches, when an increase of visitors is expected.
“We've seen a 15 to 20 percent increase per month in the number of people who we facilitate through our services,” Gilbert said.
The kitchen requires about 400 volunteers per month to have soup kitchens run smoothly.
“Our overhead is pretty low because we have a staff of only six. And with such a small staff, it is hard to help all of our visitors the right way," Gilbert said.
Photo Courtesy of Flickr.
November 11, 2010 5:00 p.m.
Samaritan sees a rise in visitors and a rise in making meals
Unemployment has hit Syracuse hard over the past two years, leading to a record high of needy people attending a local soup kitchen. The Samaritan Center Soup Kitchen is serving 350 meals a day at its St. Paul's Episcopal Cathedral location in downtown Syracuse. This is about 20-percent more meals than they distributed last year.
"People are exhausting all their means and are turning to social services for help," resources and referral manager of Samaritan, Julie Gilbert said.
People who are in need
One-fourth of the residents in the City of Syracuse live in poverty. In the suburbs, one out of every eight people lives in poverty.
“We find that a lot of our guests are people who are making choices between food and rent, food and medication, food and stuff for their kids,” Gilbert said.
A lot of the people attending Samaritan are the working poor, large families, under-employed or people who are part-time, and are seen more frequently than people who are homeless, according to Gilbert.
Samaritan needs more volunteers
The kitchen is in desperate need of volunteers as winter approaches, when an increase of visitors is expected.
“We've seen a 15 to 20 percent increase per month in the number of people who we facilitate through our services,” Gilbert said.
The kitchen requires about 400 volunteers per month to have soup kitchens run smoothly.
“Our overhead is pretty low because we have a staff of only six. And with such a small staff, it is hard to help all of our visitors the right way," Gilbert said.
Photo Courtesy of Flickr.
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