OLDS – On June 19, Clint’s Kitchen, a soup kitchen in Olds, will be in a new location: by the gazebo in Centennial Park from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
It’s being held in conjunction with the Rotary Club of Olds and with the support of several local businesses.
Since Feb. 14, the soup kitchen has been held every Wednesday in St. Paul’s Lutheran church.
Not only will the location be different, but so will the food on offer. It will be chili dogs. The whole community is invited to come out and participate.
Donations will be accepted in support of Kirsten’s Place, the emergency shelter now under construction in Olds.
“We're calling it Clint's kitchen presents a free chili dog extravaganza,” says St. Paul’s Lutheran Church Pastor Olav Traa, who organizes the soup kitchen, along with Clint Jackson.
“We're going to have a lot of food, so we really need help consuming it,” Traa said. “We'll have all sorts of all sorts of trimmings and pop and chips and stuff like that.”
There will also be live music, by Jake Peters of Sundre.
“He's a singer, songwriter. He plays banjo and ukulele and fiddle,” Traa said.
Traa said Peters heard about the soup kitchen and called Jackson, offering to provide music.
“We do invite everybody to bring out their lawn chairs so they can make themselves comfortable. The whole park is reserved for this this event and so they'll be loads of space,” Traa said.
He said the town will also ensure the washrooms are available.
Traa said donations to Kirsten’s Place fit in with the soup kitchen’s overall goal to help people in need.
“When people are hurting, whether that be poverty or loneliness, or, you know, grieving or mourning or fleeing family violence, we're taking our position in there to see what we can do as Clint's kitchen to help folks,” he said.
“And I think Kirsten's place is also doing something really, really good and necessary.
“I keep them in our prayers as they continue to build and hopefully they can find a measure of success in being able to help people, particularly women and their children fleeing violence.”
Traa said on the 19th, if soup kitchen clients come to St. Paul’s, they’ll be redirected to Centennial Park.
There’s been a lot of rainy days lately. Traa said if it rains on the 19th, they’ll choose another date to hold the event.
“We'll approach that as we get a bit closer,” he said. “There are a lot of Wednesdays open in the park. I've talked to the town about that.
“And you know, if it actually is raining cats and dogs, there's nothing that says we don't just simply do it at the church and people can come in.”
Traa said if the June 19 event goes well, organizers might hold two or three other soup kitchens in Centennial Park over the summer.
“I think that's entirely possible, but we have to do the first one first to see how it goes, see how people think,” he said.
Traa said representatives of the Rotary Club of Olds broached the idea of the soup kitchen in the park.
“They came to us with this idea and we said, ‘wow, that's a lot of hot dogs, Rotary Club.’
“They're the ones that are behind it and they wanted to support Clint's Kitchen in doing something like this.”
Whitecap Resources and the Westview Coop are also supporting the event.
As a result, Traa said, almost all the supplies for the event have been obtained purchased locally.
