LAS CRUCES – El Caldito Soup Kitchen prepared for their annual Thanksgiving meal with decorations made by the local Cub Scout Pack #173.
The 41-member pack of kindergarten through fifth graders created table arrangements at their latest meeting to decorate the foldout tables set up in the hall of the soup kitchen. About 15 children helped decorate Wednesday for those taking part in the traditional meal Thursday.
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Diana D’Ambrosio, office manager and volunteer coordinator at El Caldito, said they expected to serve 180 meals for Thanksgiving. She said about 200 people is what they usually serve on the holiday, but numbers have been low lately.
“When our clients get to come in here and have the atmosphere like this rather than just the everyday plain tables, I think it makes them feel more comfortable. A little bit of a relief for them,” D’Ambrosio said.
She added that seeing kids this age volunteer was great — “and they’re so cute.”
El Caldito will be serving food from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thanksgiving Day. If there is still a line at 1 p.m., they will continue serving people.
Pack #173 volunteered in a similar way in 2019 at the Las Cruces Gospel Rescue Mission, according to Sheryl Barham, one of the leaders of the pack. She said that in 2020, when many things were still remote due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the pack held a food drive for Jardin de los Niños. The kids collected food items and pack leaders picked up the donations to deliver to the agency.
The scouts meet at St Paul’s United Methodist Church.
Leah Romero is the trending reporter at the Las Cruces Sun-News and can be reached at 575-418-3442, [email protected] or @rromero_leah on Twitter.
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