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Back in business
Robert Delaney of The Michigan Catholic
Published January 6, 2006
Detroit – The All Saints Loaves and Fishes Soup Kitchen at All Saints Parish in southwest Detroit was back in operation Monday, after a fire that started late on Christmas Day forced its cancellation during the last week of 2005.
The fire destroyed the kitchen adjacent to the parish hall, in the basement of the church, and there was smoke and water damage to the hall, as well as smoke damage to the church itself.
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Fr. Ed Zaorski, pastor, stands in the burned-out ruin of the basement kitchen at All Saints Church in southwestDetroit. The late Christmas Day fire forced the parish to suspend its twice weekly soup kitchen for a week, but itwas back in operation on Monday. | "The fire appears to have been electrical in origin, and caused over $300,000 in damage," said Fr. Ed Zaorski, pastor of All Saints Parish, at Fort Street and Springwells Avenue. A parish maintenance man discovered the fire about 1 a.m. on Dec. 26. Firefighters conjectured that it had probably started to smolder several hours earlier.
The soup kitchen reopened in a new venue — the former convent building just east of the church. While it is not large enough to accommodate all the approximately 250 people who typically show up for the twice weekly meals at one seating, the soup kitchen will now start earlier and stay open later to serve the same number of people.
"That we could reopen so quickly is a testament to the hard work and generosity of our parishioners and the people of metro Detroit, who have opened their hearts and their wallets to help us," Fr. Zaorski said.
Fewer than the usual number of people showed up on the soup kitchen's first day back in operation, but the 15 volunteers who staffed it were ready to serve all who came.
And parish volunteers were also ready to reopen the parish's food pantry on the following day, also in new quarters in the former convent. About 200 people come to the food pantry every Tuesday morning.
Leona DaPra, dining room coordinator for the soup kitchen, explained that parish volunteers work the soup kitchen on Mondays and volunteers from other parishes handle the duties on Wednesdays.
DaPra, 81, a soup kitchen volunteer for more than eight years, said its policy of serving people at their table – instead of having them line up – stemmed from regarding them as guests. "We serve them with dignity," she said.
Fr. Zaorski said he had lost count of all the volunteers who had helped to make Monday's reopening possible. Likewise, there had been no time to tabulate all the in-kind donations of groceries or to tally the monetary donations that had come in during the previous week.
One particular donation stood out for him, however. "We received one envelope (Dec. 28) with a dollar bill in it, and an anonymous note that read: 'Donation: $1.00. May it multiply into millions with God's help,'" Fr. Zaorski recounted.
The needs served by the soup kitchen and food pantry are too great to allow even a fire to interrupt their operations any more than absolutely necessary, he said. In fact, Fr. Zaorski said he had been wanting to expand operations to four days a week.
The fire has also caused All Saints parishioners to find alternative venues for Mass during the minimum of two months it will take to remediate the smoke damage to their church. Since All Saints is clustered with SS. Andrew & Benedict Parish, also in southwest Detroit, and St. John Cantius Parish in Delray, they have been asked to go to one of these.
Among the many volunteers who helped get things into shape for Monday's reopening of the soup kitchen was Mary Wallace. Although she now lives in Allen Park, she is still an active member of All Saints Parish.
"I grew up with all the people here. My grandparents, my mother and father, and I went to school here. It's a tight-knit community, and a great worship community," Wallace said.
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