Sharon and Hawk Smessaert ran the Habersham Soup Kitchen located at 166 Ritchie Street in Clarkesville for over 25 years. Hawk passed away last year so their son Allan helped his mother continue the soup kitchen’s mission of serving lunch for up to 40 people a day. This awesome task included coordinating over 100 volunteers who worked in groups, each group taking one day a month to cook, serve and clean at the kitchen. This soup kitchen, that has been opened for lunch from 11:30 am – 12:30 pm Monday through Saturday for all these years, will close it’s doors as of today, March 1, 2017.
The people who eat lunch at this soup kitchen every day come mostly from the low-income apartments surrounding the building where the kitchen is housed. Some of the residents are not able to leave their apartments, so one of the regular guests takes “to go” plates to them. I asked some of the guests having lunch on Monday what they thought about the kitchen closing. Most of them stated they hoped someone else would step in to keep the kitchen running. They didn’t want to talk about why the kitchen was closing, nobody knows for sure. Some said they have heard rumors, but did not want to spread gossip. Mrs. Smessaert called all of the volunteer groups to let them know that the kitchen would be closing. One of the groups that serves on the last Monday each month from Bethlehem Baptist Church received the call last week and were told that the day to day operations of the soup kitchen had become to much to handle for Sharon and her son alone.
I had the pleasure on several occasions to serve with the group from Bethlehem Baptist Church on the last Monday of the month and got to help out on this last Monday of the kitchen being opened. My favorite regular guest is a World War II Veteran named Clarence Dover. When asked how old he is, Mr. Dover said “it’s been so long, I forgot!” We are pretty sure he is in his late 90’s. His daughter drives him to the kitchen for lunch every day and one of the regular guests drives him home. He seems to truly enjoy the fellowship with the other diners, and they enjoy spending time with him each day. The closing of this gathering place for many of the less fortunate citizens in our community will be a huge change in their daily routines.
Regular guests who have transportation will go to The Lord’s Help Soup Kitchen, located at 236 Level Grove Road, Cornelia, for lunch from now on. The Lord’s Help Soup Kitchen is a Community Service Organization and posts a calendar in the window of the kitchen with the dates and times they are opened for lunch each month. For those who cannot travel to Cornelia for a regular meal, life just got a little harder. Now Habersham’s Pass It On ministry will be checking into programs like Meals on Wheels to help out. Please click Meet A Need on the Pass It On icon in the top right corner of this page to find out what specific needs some in our community have right now. You may also click on Submit A Need if you are in need of help. Pass It On puts people with needs together with people who are able to help. We know that some in the Clarkesville area, especially in the Ritchie Street Apartments, may need at least a hot meal and companionship that they will miss once the doors of the Habersham Soup Kitchen are closed today.
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Original article: Habersham Soup Kitchen in Clarkesville Closes It’s Doors.