Soup for You! co-founder and cook Judah Nataf prepares for guests to arrive for lunch at Bethany Lutheran Church, Minneapolis. The ministry, started in February, invites residents from a diverse neighborhood together for a meal and conversation.
has prioritized feeding the hungry in his community. When Nataf found a space to cook at Bethany, he connected with the new pastor. Matson and Nataf found they shared a passion for serving others. Soup for You! strives to meet the
Soup for all I
n a neighborhood defined by divisions—by Interstate 94 and by religious, ethnic and language
differences—there is a place where people from dozens of backgrounds can converge. Bethany Lutheran Church,
located in the diverse Seward neigh- borhood of Minneapolis, is trans- formed each weekday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. into the Soup for You! Café (
www.bethanyinseward.org/ outreach). Trough this ministry, the congregation invites neighbors to come together for a meal and conversation. “Whether you live under a bridge
or in a penthouse, we want you here,” said Mike Matson, pastor. Matson, who also serves as assis-
tant football coach and chaplain to student athletes at his alma mater Augsburg College—just across the freeway from the church—founded the café with Judah Nataf. At Soup for You! guests encoun-
ter round tables with linens, a coffee pot brewing, ice water with fresh fruit and a board listing the day’s soup menu. Diners pay what they’re able to or believe to be fair. Once guests choose their soup
28
www.thelutheran.org
Text by Jens Pinther Photos by Stephen Geffre
It’s a chance to provide them a dignified
experience they may not often receive.
(a common favorite is the Kenyan peanut), they are invited to sit at a table with others from the Seward and Cedar-Riverside neighborhoods to be served by volunteer waiters. Matson said the waiters are espe- cially important when it comes to serving homeless guests because it’s a chance to provide them a digni- fied experience they may not oſten receive.
Helping fight hunger Nataf is a community activist who brings more than 20 years of cooking experience to the Bethany kitchen. He describes himself as an Arab, Sephardic Jew born in Tunisia. He has lived many places in the world, arriving in the U.S. at 9 years old. “I was hungry for the first nine
years of my life,” he said. “I’ve been on the other end. I’ve had to go and find places to eat.” Because of this experience, Nataf
specific needs of the community, which has a poverty rate of more than 30 percent. Because many of those who fall under the poverty line in Seward are East African and Muslim, this compelled Matson and Nataf to serve soups that are vegan and halal (prepared according to Muslim law). For Matson, Soup for You! is
about cultivating community in a way he felt has been less present in the neighborhood. “Te purpose of this meal is ‘Who is Christ bringing to me?’ not who are we bringing to Christ,” he said. “We get people from all walks of life.” One of those people is Tom
Ericksen, who participates daily in Soup for You! and has attended Bethany since he moved across the street in February 2014. Aſter three years in Indonesia, Ericksen returned to the U.S. for medical care. Retired, he lives on Social Security. When he considered going to the café for the first time, he said, “I knew I was kind of short on funds.” Ericksen said people’s life stories
come out over soup. “Tat is the community-building aspect,” he added. “You get to know everybody,
Author bio: Pinther is an alumnus from Augsburg College in Minneapolis and is now a writer living in the city.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52