Door closes on Open Arms
Soup kitchen's reprieve rejected
By Tim Gannon
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The church trustees had voted earlier this year to ask the soup kitchen, which has been serving about 1,400 people per month, to move elsewhere. The trustees cited increased insurance and utilities costs, along with the fact that they were considering opening a day-care center at the church.
However, Bob Beodeker, chairman of the church trustees, said at the time that the situation could be revisited if the congregation wanted, and that a vote of the congregation could decide the issue.
That's what happened on Sunday.
Jim Wooten, a congregation member, as well as a Riverhead Town councilman, made a motion to reconsider the issue on Sunday. Mr. Wooten is scheduled to become a church trustee in January.
"I think it's important for the church to feed those less fortunate," he said in an interview with The News-Review.
But the vote of the congregation was overwhelmingly against revisiting the original decision, he said, finally making it official that Open Arms would need to leave at the end of the year.
"The congregation had a full conversation about the soup kitchen this past Sunday and Jim [Wooten] did make a motion to extend the use of church facilities by Open Arms," Mr. Beodeker said via e-mail. "The motion was defeated and so our agreement with Open Arms will end on December 31, 2008."
The church trustees had also recently discussed giving Open Arms a six-month extension, but no decision was made, according to Mr. Beodeker.
Open Arms operates the soup kitchen weekdays between noon and 1 p.m. It has done so as at First Congregational Church for 16 years, and operated in Riverside prior to that.
Open Arms is actually sponsored by First Baptist Church of Riverhead, where it runs a food pantry three days a week.
Another group, Bread and More, which is associated with the Interfaith Nutrition Network, also runs a soup kitchen three nights a week at First Congregational. That program will remain at the church.
"I was surprised," Zona Stroy, chairperson of Open Arms, said of the vote, though the initial plans to close down the soup kitchen were reported in a News-Review front page on Nov. 6. "But it's their church and they decide what to do with it."
She said Tuesday that she was on the phone trying to find other options for the soup kitchen come next year.
"At first, I was disappointed, but now I'm very concerned for the people who come to the soup kitchen," Ms. Stroy said. "We could extend the hours at the pantry, but that doesn't solve the problem. A lot of them are homeless and First Baptist presents transportation issues. The soup kitchen needs to be in the downtown area."
First Baptist Church, which is downtown, already provides a lot of space for Open Arms at no charge, and has a number of other programs going on at the same time, Ms. Stroy said.
"Logistically, it wouldn't work," she said.
Open Arms had been paying First Congregational $125 per month to lease the space. But Mr. Beodeker said the church is facing big increases in insurance costs, a $10,000 increase in fuel costs and higher utility costs and other expenses.
tgannon@timesreview.com
Open Arms loses home : 12/4/2008
As the recession deepens, it's tragic to see things like this, but you can't blame the church,whose expenses are soaring. The homeless and the poor, whose numbers are ever increasing in these trying times, need our help. Private charities are all strapped,with higher demands and fewer donations. We can't depend on them to keep the hungry fed, and the homeless sheltered. While millionaire captains of industry fly their private jets to Washington to beg for money, who speaks for the real people in need, much less the blue collar workers whose unions are now up against the wall, with working folks losing pension and health care benefits at every turn? The predicament of the food pantries and homeless shelters are the problems of us all. They are at least as important as infrastructure and financial institutions, crying out for immediate attention from our cash strapped governments at all levels. Private charity can never solve such problems on its own;we all need to help more. Looks like a stark Christmas season for many this year. If you have a job, and food on your table, count your blessings!
