Maryland Community Newspapers Online
The Lord's Table, an interfaith soup kitchen in Olde Towne Gaithersburg, has never been more crowded.
The nonprofit, which has operated out of the basement of St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church for 25 years, has seen an approximate 80 percent rise in daily visitors since 2008, said volunteer Mary Canapary, who opened the soup kitchen with the help of the parish council in 1984.
"There was a great need for an efficient and orderly and effective way to deal with the 20 permanent residents who lived under the old bridge across [Route] 355, who used to come on St. Martin's property for food and clothing and money, everything you can imagine," she said of its beginnings. "At that time, there were no shelters in the area and there were no food pantries or soup kitchens."
Last winter, The Lord's Table saw attendance spike from an average of 80 to 150 residents daily, she said. More than half those who now seek food are Latino residents, a trend that is forcing a need for more bilingual volunteers, said Canapary.
The soup kitchen is staffed by more than 250 volunteers from 88 churches, synagogues and civic organizations, Canapary said.
"You're dead tired because you're hoofing — you've got to meet the demands of the people, but my goodness, it's a good tired," said Heather Sterling, 55, of Germantown of her monthly volunteer work.
Sterling was one of a dozen volunteers from Mother Seton Parish in Germantown who worked for nearly four hours Thursday preparing and serving a hearty meal of vegetable soup, chili-frank casserole, green beans, cole slaw, bread and pie to about 70 hungry men and women and children.
On the menu: a hearty beef-vegetable soup, chili-frank casserole, fresh green beans, cole slaw, garlic bread and pie for dessert.
Charles Shepherd, 62, a Vietnam Veteran who once worked as an aerospace engineering technician for NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, said he has been eating at The Lord's Table since 2003. He has lived in a tent in woods near the Shady Grove Metro station for three years, he said.
Canapary is the lynchpin that keeps the Lord's Table running and hungry stomachs full, he said.
"She's got a heart as big as all outdoors," he said. "She'll do anything she can for just about anybody that asks."
He wondered what will happen when Canapary stops volunteering.
"It's a very good service to the community," Shepherd said. "The food is good."
