Soup kitchen – every month

[Original post: June2016, updated 2018, January2020, November2020].

Covid-19 obliges a change of process for the “soup” kitchen, as no hot meals can be prepared, nor served inside. So now sandwiches are the replacement, made by volunteers at home, and brought to the Montbrillant Center. Each volunteer is asked to make 20 sandwiches along with accompanying drinks and deserts. Corin is the coordinator for the elcg with a rotation of neighborhood groups.

[Photos: Elisabeth Benn]


This congregation serves at the Montbrillant “soup kitchen” one Saturday per month.(Other volunteer groups take the other Saturdays, while a more permanent staff handles weekdays)

Valérie Marinoni has been leading this effort for a very long time and has now handed over coordination to the neighborhood groups to continue this very important social contribution – serving a healthy meal to often more than 200 people. Those people are not all homeless in the true sense of the word, but welcome a hot meal, a place to be, and a warm welcome.

The overall organizer of the soup kitchen is Carrefour-Rue, an independent social action group. Below is a letter of appreciation from them for the work of this congregation in 2019. A big thanks to all who have contributed to this effort  ( PDF ).

Carrefour-Rue remerciements

Soup Kitchen

Once a month, our congregation prepares a meal for about 200 persons in need at a local soup kitchen. We cook and serve together and often make new friends in the process. All are warmly welcome to participate.

First Saturday of each month
9h30 to 13h00 at Jardin Montbrillant

Valérie Marinoni has been leading this effort for a very long time and is now handing over to others to continue this very important social contribution.
Valérie was “formally” recognized for her long and loyal service: Audio, video and photos from 9th December 2018 – with pieces from the original soup kitchen video filling the gaps.

Valerie wrote an article about the soup kitchen in the January 2004 newsletter. Fascinating to compare the kilos of rice and the numbers of people served !

Thank you, Valérie!