Serving soup during a pandemic

Peter Smith is the Director of the soup kitchen at St. Augustine Catholic Church in South Bend, IN. Peter has volunteered with the soup kitchen for over 30 years and directed the operations for over 20. At the start of the pandemic they struggled to figure out how to remain open and serve the local community, particularly because many of the volunteers were in a high-risk population. However, they quickly pivoted with high school and college students stepping in to volunteer and switching to carry-out food distributed outdoors. Dan and Peter discuss the challenges of trying to keep people safe but also provide an essential service and lament the lack of community- building due to social distancing guidelines and the impact this could have on culture long term.