theleaven.com | vol. 34, no. 37 | may 17, 2013
Leaven photo by Joe McSorley
The initial call for volunteers to help at Elijah’s Supper, a free community meals ministry of Immaculate Conception-St. Joseph Parish in Leavenworth, brought an enthusiastic response — more volunteers than they could use. Jerry Frietchen calls this the “healthy problem” of Elijah’s Supper.
Feeding body and soul
By Joe Bollig joe@theleaven.com
L
E AV E N WO RT H — You can see Jerry Frietchen cruising around the tables every time Elijah’s Supper is open. “How’s the food?” he asks one patron. “Are you enjoying your meal?” he says to another. “How can we improve what we’re doing?” is his question to a third. And finally, when people get ready to leave, Jerry is right there. “We’re glad you came, and be sure to come back next month,” he says. You could hardly find a more customer-friendly restaurant manager — except that Frietchen isn’t a restaurant manager, and Elijah’s Supper isn’t a restaurant. Your money is no good there. The meals are free. Elijah’s Supper is a community meals ministry of Immaculate Conception-St. Joseph Parish in Leavenworth — the obsolete term being “soup kitchen.” It’s open the first Thursday of each month. Your money’s no good at Elijah’s Supper because the currency required here is love, and it’s paid for by diners, donors and volunteers alike. Donations to keep the plates filled, however, are always gratefully accepted.
Leaven photo by Joe McSorley
Volunteer Meagan Johnson explains the finer points of serving to her younger brother Evan as they wait for the crowd to roll in. The last supper served more than 150 people.
Not empty, not dry The name of the place comes straight from Car-
melite spirituality, said pastor Father David McEvoy, O.Carm. “The prophet Elijah is one of our Carmelite patrons,” said Father David. “The story in the Old Testament is that Elijah
went to the widow of Zarephath and asked her to feed him,” he continued. “She told him she didn’t have enough to feed herself and her son. [Elijah] told her to do what she could, and said, ‘The jar of flour shall
not go empty, nor the jug of oil run dry.’” Although the ministry might bear the prophet’s name, the heart, soul and catalyst of Elijah’s Supper is Mitzie Frietchen, Jerry’s wife. She and Jerry had been volunteers at the Leavenworth Assistance Center. “We saw all these people coming in for food, but they needed somewhere to have a hot meal,” said Mitzie. “A lot of them said, ‘I don’t have a stove,’ or, ‘I don’t have a microwave.’” With this in the back of her mind, she talked with some of her family about the need for community meals in Leavenworth. Lutheran, Methodist and Episcopal churches offered free community meals but only one Saturday a month, on a rotating basis. Jerry thought this was the perfect year to do this. “In the Year of Faith, with the concepts of ‘Love It, Learn It, Live It,’ we felt that we should live our faith beyond just going to church on Sundays,” he said. Kinzler Hall, the social hall in the basement of St. Joseph Church, had been used as a school cafeteria. With the consolidation of Catholic schools a few years ago, however, it was no longer used. It was a perfect venue. >> See “parishioners” on page 10