Dec 31

Dec 31 Distinguished Young Women bring Christmas Cheer to Mary’s Soup Kitchen

Often times, we receive our greatest blessings by giving to others. This was the case on December 21, 2021.

On a cold winter’s morning when it would have been very easy to stay snuggled in bed and enjoy sleeping in during winter break, the 2022 Lenoir County Distinguished Young Women participants decided to crawl out and spread a little cheer to others.

Macy Sanderson, Distinguished Young Woman of Lenoir County 2022 and her fellow participants Natalie Dail and Addie Hudson; as well as Anna Rouse, Distinguished Young Woman of Lenoir County 2021 and other committee members headed into Kinston to volunteer at Mary’s Soup Kitchen.

The girls began the morning by beginning to prepare sandwiches for the lunches. While the remaining items on the lunch menu finished cooking the crew helped sort and shelve food items the Soup Kitchen has been blessed to receive in the past month. According to soup kitchen staff the stockroom was down to about 75 cans of food about a month ago, but thanks to the generosity of the Kinston community the girls restocked not only one room but an overflow room as well.

Mandy Odom, program committee member states, “I was thankful for the opportunity to volunteer at the soup kitchen with Distinguished Young Women. It’s always nice and rewarding to help our community but it was even better to share this experience with my DYW family and my three year old daughter. They said she was the youngest volunteer they have ever had at the soup kitchen. I want her to learn to have a servant's heart like Christ. Watching her put a smile on people’s faces by asking “Do you want a sandwich?” was my favorite memory”.

Sanderson says, “The holidays are a special time. I am truly blessed to have what I do, but today I hope I was able to bless others with a warm lunch. It was a joy to work with others and seeing the smiles on everyone’s faces was nice, especially during the Christmas season.”

Hudson added that “she enjoyed getting to meet the people who give up their time every day to come and help, and the huge hearts they have to get to know each of these individuals.”

As the girls were leaving Mark Moore, team captain at the Soup Kitchen, invited them to return any time. As the group headed to their vehicles Mia Heath, program chairman noted the warm smiles on each of their faces. Heath said, “From the very young three year old to the entire rest of the group the smiles on their faces were as warming as the lunches were to those who had been served. I feel that we were indeed the ones receiving the blessing by being given this opportunity to help those in need in our community.”