With the construction of the new Slifka Center for Jewish Life nearing completion, the Kosher Kitchen's weekly soup kitchen had thought itself unsure of its future. Although concerns have been raised about its future at the Slifka Center, proponents say that the kitchen that feeds the homeless will not find itself homeless next year, and will likely be housed in the Slifka Center.
The story of the soup kitchen's problem is simple. Each Sunday evening, volunteers transform Hillel's Kosher Kitchen into a soup kitchen to feed an average of 80 people per night. However, according to Winnie Kao, BR '96, one of four coordinators for the soup kitchen, the building that the Kosher Kitchen is housed in will no longer be available following this semester. She said that the Kosher Kitchen will open next year at the Slifka Center and that the big question is whether the soup kitchen will follow suit.
A meeting of the Hillel Transition Committee took place on Mon., Feb. 13 to air concerns about the soup kitchen's future. Kao said that many different issues were brought up, and although the group was not able to come to a final conclusion she said that "dialogue was open."
According to Kao, committee members' main concern revolved around the possibility of the kitchen bringing more homeless people to the campus area and the added security risk that move might pose. Kao, however, said that she believed that any concerns could be worked out successfully, especially considering that the kitchen has never experienced any problems at its current Crown Street location. According to soup kitchen coordinator Tal Brudnoy, ES '96, the members of the committee "were more concerned about 'perceived' security issues than with security issues, per se, because we really never had any security problems at all."
Kao said that the students will be safer at the new facility and that most visions of homeless vagrants are misconceptions. "If anything, instead of creating a misperception...by having the soup kitchen near campus, it would only help deconstruction," she said.
Hillel's coordinator David Kurtzer, JE '97, agreed that "I don't see any problem as insurmountable...I expect that [the soup kitchen] will move."
Willis Diggs, coordinator of the New Haven Downtown Evening Soup Kitchen (DESK), said that he has dealt with similar security concerns before in his interactions with other soup kitchens. Diggs said that he meets with the local groups and residents and tries to involve them, "making them part of the solution."
The committee's concerns were very valid, Kao said. By the end of the meeting, however, she felt that a consensus was growing in favor of moving the service. "I went in with some uncertainty, and I felt a lot better coming out," she said.
Rabbi James Ponet, TD '68, Jewish Chaplain and Director of the Hillel Foundation, said that Hillel is committed to the soup kitchen and that the question is where it will operate in the future. "[We] feel a deep responsibility to the people we are currently serving," he said.
Kurtzer also looked forward to the possible new location of the kitchen. "It's a great new facility," he said. "We'll have a much nicer kitchen than we have now," Brudnoy agreed.
When confronted with the question of where the soup kitchen would go to if not to the Slifka Center, Ponet stated that it would probably be moved to a site where there is already another soup kitchen. Diggs, however, was less optimistic about such prospects. "At this point, I'm not sure that we could find one," he said.
Even the possibility of this move, however, troubled Kao. She said that it is important that the soup kitchen remain housed with Hillel. "The reason why we get our volunteers from synagogues, etc., which we count on heavily, is because we are a Jewish...institution or a Jewish social service." She also said that the soup kitchen provides people with the opportunity to express their Jewishness by helping people who are in need.
Kao maintained that another important feature which would be lost with the soup kitchen is that it gives students another, unique way to learn and view the world. "Not only are you opening your eyes about a community that we usually read about...but there's so much to get from it," she said. "The people you meet are amazing."
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