Helping Out with the Lenten Soup Supper
Here are the details on what is involved in helping with the Lenten Soup Supper in Seelos Hall at St. John Neumann Church:
What is needed: We are expected to supply 4 to 5 soups, and about 3 gallons of each soup. We are also expected to supply bread or crackers and butter, and optionally salads and desserts, for around 150 people. We typically supply all of these for our soup night.
When it's needed: Our soup supper date this year is Wednesday, March 19. The soup supper opens at 4:30, so soups need to be delivered between 3:15 and 3:45, to allow time for setup. The other supplies should also be delivered before 4 PM. We can arrange to have soup dropped off that morning after 7 AM if that is easier for you. The soup supper will run from 4:30 until about 6:40, with cleanup until 7 PM, when RCIA meets in Seelos Hall.
Who is needed: We need helpers for the following roles:
Soup Supper Lead - this is the overall coordinator for the event. You will work with Angela Nassar, who coordinates all of the soup suppers for St. Mary's Parish. You would need to arrive at Seelos Hall by around 3 PM, and be there throughout the event to ensure that all of the food is delivered, and the helpers arrive as scheduled. You can arrive as early as 1 PM, which is when Angela starts to set up for the event.
Soup Maker - we need 4 to 5 people to each make 3 gallons of soup. What type of soup you make is entirely up to you, but please let us know what you are making, so that we know the variety of soups we will have. They have large crock pots available at Seelos Hall for serving the soup, so you just need to bring it in whatever container(s) work best for you. Soups need to be delivered either Wednesday morning or between 3:15 and 3:45 PM. We normally hope that people make their soup using ingredients they have already, but if you would like to make a soup with more expensive ingredients, please let us know, and we can discuss reimbursement for the expensive ingredients.
Food Buyer - we need 1 or 2 people to purchase the bread, butter, salads, and desserts. We typically get this at Sam's Club, so someone with a Sam's Club membership is good for this job. Typically, we get 3 or 4 bags of mixed greens from Sam's, plus a couple of salad dressings, 4 or 5 baguettes plus some butter, and dessert for about 150 servings. We can also get a few additional items for the salad, like cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and croutons. The council will reimburse you for this purchase.
Food Server - we need 5 or 6 people to help serve the food during the supper. You would need to arrive by around 4:15, so that we can be ready to start serving at 4:30. This job includes serving the soups, managing the supply of bread, butter, salad, and dessert, and helping with cleanup at the end. If you aren't able to do this for the full 3 hours or so, we can also coordinate some people to arrive early and leave early, and others to arrive later and stay through cleanup.
Cleanup - we need a number of people to help with cleanup, so that it can be done within the 20 minute window before RCIA starts. St. Mary's is reminding the soup supper ministries that cleanup has to be thorough, since they have had issues with that in the past. I doubt that applies to us, since we have a lot of experience with cleanup at The Atreeum, but we still want to make a good impression by doing this well. A few people are also needed to stay in the Seelos Hall kitchen for a while after 7, to finish the cleanup there. The best way to do this job is to arrive around 6 PM, have your soup supper, then start helping clean up.
Welcome Table - we have the opportunity to have 1 or 2 people at the front table to greet people, direct them to the serving line, and answer any questions they have about the Knights of Columbus. This is a great job for someone who is comfortable talking to other people, and can help promote our council's activities, and maybe even get a few new members.
