MU sponsors meal at Emmaus Soup Kitchen

By Nadine Fox Staff writer

Mercyhurst University will be sponsoring a meal at Emmaus Soup Kitchen on Wednesday, April 12. On that Wednesday night, many Mercyhurst volunteers will be serving a lasagna dinner, salad and rolls for people in need.

Since 1974, the Emmaus has been a ministry of the Benedictine Sisters of Erie.

This ministry has a Christian presence and aims to outreach to help the poor in Erie through the Emmaus Soup Kitchen, Food Pantry and Sister Gus’ Kids Cafe.

Emmaus has a community garden called Emmaus Grove. This garden provides over 2,000 pounds of organic produce annually to the Emmaus Soup Kitchen and Food Pantry.

The Emmaus Soup Kitchen serves approximately two hundred meals each day to anyone who comes.

They serve nutritious, hot meals six days a week to more than 200 guests who range in age from infants to senior citizens.

Many are homeless, and some people come from living in single rooms with no cook- ing facilities. There are a variety of different people who come from different places and need something that the soup kitchen has to offer.

The Emmaus Soup Kitchen carries pride in their efforts to provide “nourishment for the body and care for the soul.”

There is also an Emmaus Food Pantry that distributes emergency food to approxi- mately 600 families each week. According to their website, “At our Food Pantry, we distribute emergency food bags to approximately 600 Erie families every week.”

The Sister Gus’ Kids Cafe is an after-school program for students that includes a nourishing meal, homework assistance and supervised gym activities for approximately fifty inner city chil- dren ranging from ages 6-17. This after-school program provides a nutritious kid-friendly meal Monday through Friday from 2:30 to 5:30 p.m.

In addition to the meal, they offer help with homework, game and activity rooms and well as gym activities.

The Mercy Emissaries are asking for donations to help sponsor the five-hundred-and-f

$50 meal. If you are interested in helping contribute to this event, there is more than one way to help volunteer.

One way to help is by taking time out of your day and physically coming to help.

Another way to help is through cookie donations, the Mercy Emissaries are looking for people to donate cookies.

These will be bagged by Mercyhurst volunteers to be served for dessert after dinner that day.

Another way to help if you can not make it to this event but still want to contribute is through cash donations.

Donations of any amount can be a huge help and can be given to Karen Meyer in Old Main 104 or Sherry Rieder in Old Main 101.

You can also help to support and restore dignity and feed those who hunger through the Mercy Emmaus website directly!

There are plenty of people in Erie who need our help, so any donation, big or small, will help contribute to the Benedictine Sisters’ effort.

This is another way that Mercyhurst demonstrates their core values of being hospitable to others.