To the Editor:
During the month of March, the Soup Kitchen Committee at Our Lady of the Assumption Church had the honor of hosting the Cluster Soup Kitchen. During the month, we had the distinct pleasure of working with other organizations who donated and cooked food for us. First, we would like to thank the Bayonne Chapter of UNICO, under the culinary direction of Mike Masone, for their outstanding donation of corned beef and cabbage in honor of St. Patrick’s Day. Secondly, we would like to acknowledge the members of Mt. Carmel’s Altar Society, who donated and cooked a beautiful ham dinner! Organized by Cindy Macon, the society made a wonderful meal of ham, potatoes, string beans, and desserts, which our patrons were thrilled to eat that day!
We also need to acknowledge the beautiful “Pierogi Ladies” at the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ukrainian Church, who, once again, made a very generous donation to our food pantry by using their time, talents, and hardworking hands, creating pierogies to sell, using the profits to donate to our organization.
A special thank you to our dear friend Pat Mirabella from Mt. Carmel Parish. This amazing, generous, loving lady has inspired and encouraged others to take up our cause to help the poor of our community. She is truly one of our “Lady’s Angels.”
Our most heartfelt thanks go out to the parishioners and volunteers at O.L.A. Church. Without the generosity and hard work of our volunteers, we would never be able to continue our Lord’s work. Their spirit of giving to the less fortunate is overwhelming!
In these poor economic times, we find more and more families coming to us for help at the Giordano Food Pantry and Cluster Soup Kitchen. Rising food prices hurt all of us, but they especially effect the poorest of the poor. In the past few years, we have seen the amount of people coming to us for help double and triple, to the point where we are now helping over 130 families every month! The Giordano Food Pantry has now been operating for 35 years, under the management of Deacon Bill Giordano, who started the first food pantry at O.L.A. in December 1976. Under his loving care, it has grown beyond anyone’s expectations. But, helping the poor is a big job, one that cannot be done by one person alone.
If you are interested in helping our food pantry by making a monetary donation or food donation, please fee free to contact the O.L.A. rectory at (201) 436-8160 or Janice Machin at (201) 858-0785. May God bless all of our benefactors, always!
DEACON BILL GIORDANO,
JANICE MACHIN & MARIANNE SILVANI
O.L.A. Food Pantry/Cluster Soup Kitchen