HAMMOND – In the downtown of a Midwestern Rust Belt city that has long been on the cusp of redevelopment, commuters zip by the main thoroughfare, while customers stop in a bank or office. Foot traffic is light, but there is a consistent presence.
Bells toll from nearby churches such as those of the towering St. Andrew the Apostle in Calumet City, Ill. It’s noon and a queue has formed around the stately circa 1912 St. Joseph Church on Hohman Avenue.
In line are local people who have walked, driven bicycles or been dropped off. It’s not the crowd that one would expect to be at a fashionable café. The coffee handed to the local denizens warms their hands as a cool breeze sweeps between the church and rectory.
Volunteers at St. Joseph Soup Kitchen invite the visitors into a stairwell to the church basement, where they receive freshly assembled sack lunches. The pandemic-modified routine keeps those seeking a meal from sitting close together in a large room that had been designated for dining since the opening of the ministry formed as Manna for Hammond in 1985.
“I think about how to make every meal, every day better, and what can we do to be of better service to the folks who come here,” said soup kitchen coordinator Armando Corpus. “We must stay grateful for the opportunity to serve them, as it can get really easy to think it’s just another day.”
He added, “It might be the only moment in the day where they have human contact that is not bad.”
The Region native spent five years in Oakland, Calif., working as a drug and alcohol program administrator. Observing the homelessness and hunger in the city, he soon turned his attention to charities providing meals through the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in places where people can be “more disturbed, more desperate” than the needy who present themselves in Hammond.
Corpus took over the well-known Hammond ministry a year ago from longtime coordinator Ray Moreno. Each of the ministry’s leaders through the decades has emphasized the “service with a smile” principle. After all, though volunteers can never predict who will show up seeking a meal, they recognize who is always present.
“Before some volunteers come to the soup kitchen to help out, they go to our chapel for 9 a.m. Mass (offered on Monday, Wednesday and Friday),” said St. Joseph communications representative and Manna volunteer Zach Dotson. “That gives a pretty good perspective, you know, about why we are doing this. The altar is above the kitchen – we’re here for Him.”
A man who goes by “Alec” approached the kitchen door and spoke with those gathered, each of whom carried a wrapped sandwich, fresh fruit, potato chips, bottled water and St. Patrick’s day-themed cookies in a plastic shopping bag.
“It’s a fine, fine, place,” he said, “and they are doing God’s work.”
On the way to his car, where his dog Faustina steamed up the window, a woman called “Rose,” tugged on his coat and asked for a car ride home. She smiled from under a rumpled parka, clutching her lunch bag.
Manna for Hammond has long been a donation-powered ministry. Corpus tipped his hat to local grocers who regularly contribute food, especially Strack and Van Til and Jewel Food. Nearby parishes, such as St. Thomas More of Munster, send shoppers with donations and blessing bags made by school students.
In a basement hallway, a sort of soup kitchen wall of fame includes clippings from the Northwest Indiana Catholic and other local publications. Names of pastors and volunteers, such as founding member Jim Etter, dot the walls.
One article from 1987 details the story of a woman who would have made Betty Crocker proud. Ella Ennis baked award-winning angel food cakes and cooked hearty chicken noodle soup and generously volunteered at Manna twice a week.
As reported in The Times of Northwest Indiana on Sept. 9, 1987, Ennis, of Lansing, Ill., said, “I just love cooking there. People look so dejected when they first come, but after a while, they’re all like family.”
An elect, poised to join the Catholic Church at Easter vigil, Dotson has dedicated time to the soup kitchen ministry since he presented himself as a believer inspired by the incomparable stained glass and murals of Hammond’s oldest Catholic parish.
Active in Hammond civic organizations, Dotson, 24, finds a way to meet those in need, right here right now. He led the charge to purchase and deliver gifts to each person who came for a meal on Christmas.
“We meet our patrons where they’re at, and the same (goes) for our volunteers and donors,” Dotson said.
Though collecting food may seem as simple as a can of corn, he said the volunteers at Manna are careful to be resourceful and “not turn down donations. People don’t have to feel that they need to bring us 50 pounds of flour; we’ll take a one-pound bag of flour.”
Corpus said ministering to the poor and food insecure always includes a major serving of care. When a new guest presents themselves at the longest running five-day soup kitchen in the diocese, it is a “no questions asked,” exchange, with the exception of “How are you?”
“We want to serve with friendship and love, that’s what we came here to do. It should be a joyful thing,” he said.
Denise Ellis, a St. Joseph parishioner, has long been drawn to ministries of care. A retired nurse, she cared for patients at then-Munster Community Hospital since it opened its doors in 1974. She prepared lunches and stuck around to help with cleaning up on St. Patrick’s Day.
“I was contributing to it monetarily and I decided a year ago to work here,” Ellis explained. “My awareness of the need in Hammond started in eighth grade. A nun at St. Casimir, Sister Carol, had us help Project Find … back then we collected food for Thanksgiving baskets and delivered them, too. It was eye opening because just two miles down the street from where I lived were people who were really in need.”
Often the least of his people have the greatest gratitude. An older man who walked briskly toward Hohman Avenue with his meal in hand said, “They are wonderful people at St. Joe’s. They are trying to do their best under limited circumstances. So, I bless them everyday.”
For more information about donations and volunteer opportunities, call the St. Joseph Soup Kitchen at 931-7682.
Caption: Manna for Hammond kitchen volunteers including Marge Kovacik (right) pack lunches at the ministry, popularly known St. Joseph Soup Kitchen, on St. Patrick's Day, March 17. Founded 40 years ago, the outreach for the poor at is the longest-running five-day soup kitchen in the diocese. (Anthony D. Alonzo photo)
