In November 2009, the WMU members of Brownsville Baptist Church, Pee Dee Association, were planning their annual meal for the shut-ins and talked about volunteering at a soup kitchen during the holidays. Church member Kitty Carabo spoke up and said, “Why don’t we start our own soup kitchen?”
Kitty Carabo and Bobbie Davis (front row, center) and volunteers from Brownsville Baptist Church take time out from cooking at the church’s soup kitchen ministry.Carabo and fellow member Bobbie Davis continued to discuss and pray about the idea. The following February, a missionary spoke at their church. “Guess what?” said Davis. “She operated a soup kitchen. We felt this was our okay from the Lord to begin.”
The church’s deacons approved supporting the soup kitchen financially for three months. But after two months, the ministry, dubbed “Blessings in a Bowl,” was self-supporting.
Volunteers cook on the third Thursday of each month and feed an average of 42 people. (In June they fed 56.) They also deliver food to the church’s homebound members.
“It has truly been a blessing to everyone,” said Davis. “We look forward to continuing, and we know how much people enjoy the fellowship as well as the meal.
“God doesn’t care how small you are, but how willing you are to do his work. We thank God for what he is doing, and he certainly knows how to bless and multiply. We have seen many answered prayers through this ministry.”