Chairs & Tables for HH Soup Kitchen
Donation protected
A Seat at the Table: New Chairs & Tables for Haley House Soup Kitchen
** special note: due to the early success of this campaign, we've adjusted our original goal. Keep reading for more details. **
No matter the color the walls happen to be painted, the menu, or the particular people gathered, for nearly 50 years, the Haley House Soup Kitchen at 23 Dartmouth Street has been a place for strangers to become friends over good food and conversation.
During this holiday season, we invite you to make a donation towards the purchase of much-needed new chairs and tables for our guests, in honor of someone who has made a difference in your life.The suggested donation for a chair is $150 and for a table $300, but any amount will help.
**This fall, we had to purchase a refrigerator for the soup kitchen (the old one did not pass health inspection), so anything donated above our original goal will help diffray that unforseen expense.**
All donations are tax deductible. Keep reading to hear more about Clarkie, who is being honored by his friend David Manzo through this project:
"When I met Clarkie in 1977, he was sleeping in the fireplace at the old Pine Street Inn, then located in Chinatown. I never asked him why he slept there huddled with an old blanket. I suppose he felt safer having three walls surrounding his slight body and a roof, albeit a fireplace flue, over his head.
Each morning Clarkie walked 15 minutes to Haley House. There, at 6 am, I’d see him standing with 50 other men waiting for coffee, breakfast, warmth and maybe a peaceful respite.
At that time, it was not unusual for one or two volunteers to cook breakfast and lunch, distribute clothing, comfort a guest having a seizure, and clean the soup kitchen at noon when the shift ended. Given the volume of work, assistance from one of the guests, like Clarkie, was especially welcome. As the guests made their way into Haley House at opening, Clarkie would offer to wash dishes. Throughout breakfast and lunch I watched him hunched over our 3-bay sink scrubbing away, all the while making humorous comments about my Italian heritage. I will forever cherish Clarkie’s thoughtfulness and I miss his banter!
Now Haley House has given me an opportunity to honor Clarkie with its new “A Seat at the Table” Project. With the purchase of new tables and chairs in the soup kitchen, each of us has the opportunity to remember someone special in our lives. Maybe you volunteered at Haley House and had a special relationship with a guest? Maybe you’d like to honor a family member or friend who values the uniqueness of Haley House by naming a chair in his/her honor?"
With the holiday season ahead, please consider remembering someone special in your life, with a gift that will keep on giving for years to come. If you'd like someone remembered by name, please share in the notes section and their names will be displayed in the Soup Kitchen.
Clarkie sweeping the sidewalk outside the Soup Kitchen at 23 Dartmouth Street, 1977 (photo by David Manzo)
** special note: due to the early success of this campaign, we've adjusted our original goal. Keep reading for more details. **
No matter the color the walls happen to be painted, the menu, or the particular people gathered, for nearly 50 years, the Haley House Soup Kitchen at 23 Dartmouth Street has been a place for strangers to become friends over good food and conversation.
During this holiday season, we invite you to make a donation towards the purchase of much-needed new chairs and tables for our guests, in honor of someone who has made a difference in your life.The suggested donation for a chair is $150 and for a table $300, but any amount will help.
**This fall, we had to purchase a refrigerator for the soup kitchen (the old one did not pass health inspection), so anything donated above our original goal will help diffray that unforseen expense.**
All donations are tax deductible. Keep reading to hear more about Clarkie, who is being honored by his friend David Manzo through this project:
"When I met Clarkie in 1977, he was sleeping in the fireplace at the old Pine Street Inn, then located in Chinatown. I never asked him why he slept there huddled with an old blanket. I suppose he felt safer having three walls surrounding his slight body and a roof, albeit a fireplace flue, over his head.
Each morning Clarkie walked 15 minutes to Haley House. There, at 6 am, I’d see him standing with 50 other men waiting for coffee, breakfast, warmth and maybe a peaceful respite.
At that time, it was not unusual for one or two volunteers to cook breakfast and lunch, distribute clothing, comfort a guest having a seizure, and clean the soup kitchen at noon when the shift ended. Given the volume of work, assistance from one of the guests, like Clarkie, was especially welcome. As the guests made their way into Haley House at opening, Clarkie would offer to wash dishes. Throughout breakfast and lunch I watched him hunched over our 3-bay sink scrubbing away, all the while making humorous comments about my Italian heritage. I will forever cherish Clarkie’s thoughtfulness and I miss his banter!
Now Haley House has given me an opportunity to honor Clarkie with its new “A Seat at the Table” Project. With the purchase of new tables and chairs in the soup kitchen, each of us has the opportunity to remember someone special in our lives. Maybe you volunteered at Haley House and had a special relationship with a guest? Maybe you’d like to honor a family member or friend who values the uniqueness of Haley House by naming a chair in his/her honor?"
With the holiday season ahead, please consider remembering someone special in your life, with a gift that will keep on giving for years to come. If you'd like someone remembered by name, please share in the notes section and their names will be displayed in the Soup Kitchen.
Clarkie sweeping the sidewalk outside the Soup Kitchen at 23 Dartmouth Street, 1977 (photo by David Manzo)Organizer
Mary Lou Bozza
Organizer
Boston, MA