Hackley’s Soup Kitchen Club is one of many hidden gems in the Hackley community. Members experience the joy of community service by doing much more than just making soup. The club travels to St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in White Plains one Sunday a month to prepare and serve a salad course, an entrée, desserts, and beverages for 30 to 40 people. Senior Mackenzie Price and junior Roya Wolfe are the leaders of the club and have successfully helped guide the members through the process of volunteering at a soup kitchen.

Preparing for the soup kitchen takes a lot of planning ahead. The week before the club goes to St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Mackenzie creates and posts a recipe in the club’s Facebook group. Then the members decide which ingredients are to be brought in by whom. “Sometimes it’ll be chili, sometimes it will be spaghetti bolognese, it’s been beef stew in the past,” said Mackenzie.

When the members of the club arrive at the soup kitchen on Sunday with the various ingredients for the meal of the day, they immediately put on gloves and get to work chopping, mixing, and cooking. The salads go out first and then the entrées, complete with the main dish, a side, and a piece of bread. After everyone has received their food, seconds are served and some people request take home boxes for their families. Finally, dessert is served and the Soup Kitchen Club members begin to clean up the kitchen as well as the eating area. People who attend the soup kitchen usually help with the cleanup process to show their gratitude toward the volunteers.

The Soup Kitchen Club is unique due to the interactions members have with the people they are serving and how the volunteering goes beyond preparing meals. While serving the dishes and preparing take home meals, many of the attendees chat with the Hackley students and form a bond that is important when doing community service. “My favorite aspect of the club is talking to the patrons of the soup kitchen. They’re all very nice and it’s eye-opening to talk to people outside of the Hackley bubble,” member Nicole Heyward said.

Between last year and this year, Hackley’s Soup Kitchen Club has evolved and changed immensely. Last year with Jeffrey Guzman and Jeremy Anderson leading the club, a woman named Ramana would prepare rice, beans, and chicken every Sunday the Hackley club went to St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church. “But after Jeffrey and Jeremy left, then Ramana left as well. So now it’s Hackley kids literally cooking meals,” said Mackenzie,”it’s a really involved process.”

The Hackley Soup Kitchen Club is still an unknown part of the Hackley community, and the leaders as well as the members want more students to know about the many benefits of community service. “Keeping it on our minds that we do have a soup kitchen club is a great thing. Now that all of this interest has been taken in the Soup Kitchen Club, I think that it’s almost time to expand the club to soup kitchens in different churches or in different parts of Westchester,” said Mackenzie.

Hackley’s Soup Kitchen Club is an amazing way to participate in community service, while having fun with friends. Members of the club find satisfaction as well as happiness in providing for the community by making and serving food as well as interacting with the people who attend the soup kitchen. The club continues to evolve and can always use new members who want to give back to their community.