Soup and bread suppers, at 6 p.m. on Wednesday nights at Trinity Lutheran Church, are a tradition going back about 23 years. Originally held during the six weeks of Lent, the weekly suppers with their homemade soups and home-baked breads now take place from January through March and sometimes into April – depending upon when Easter falls that given year – for about 13 weeks.
Carolyn Foss remembers when it all began. She and her son Matt, who was about 7 years old at the time, would prepare for the meal in the church basement by putting out bowls, cups, spoons and milk and making coffee.
Others who regularly attended included Muriel Gunnlaugson and her sister Lillian Getchius, Robb and Marcia Carr with their three boys, Randy and Kathy Sorensen with their children, Mac Buettner, Jim and Randall Sorensen, Jerry and Marlene Mann with their four children, John and Patty Herschberger, Martha and Al Stelter, Jake and Shirley Ellefson, Ginny Ellefson, Amy Mollberg with her children, Ted and Ruthe Berkeley, Pat Schutz with her three children, Cindra Hokkanen, Ann Young, and the pastor, who at that time was the Rev. Rick Pettis.
In recent years, Marlene Mann, Melinda Ellefson and Shirley Baxter have faithfully set up the kitchen, made the coffee and cut the bread, preparing to feed about 50 to 70 people. Dish washing is performed by other volunteers who take turns and consider the cleanup a lot of fun.
Soup and bread suppers are a community event and open to everyone. Folks are not required to bring a soup or bread. There is, however, a sign-up board at Trinity. Along with soup and bread, milk, butter, peanut butter and jelly are needed.
Marlene and Melinda check the sign-up board to get an idea of what to expect or what is needed. If someone is not able to carry a heavy soup pot or slow cooker into the church, they simply pull their car up to the church’s back door and a volunteer will come out and get the soup.
The Rev. Frank Maxwell is among the many who anticipate and enjoy these weekly winter meals. He said, “Soup and bread is a marvelous opportunity for sustenance as well as fellowship. The meals are really what small town living is all about, and they provide a much-needed break during long winter days.”
Inspired by childhood memories, Greg and Tim Carr with their wives, Karin and Dana, started the Trinity soup and bread suppers tradition last January in Eau Claire, Wis., where they now live. The two couples get together on Wednesday evenings in winter to share a meal of homemade soup and bread.
“My boys,” Marcia Carr told me, “have fond memories of soup and bread suppers and the fellowship those evenings brought to their lives when they were children growing up on the Island.”
Matt Foss and his wife, Mallory, were in Eau Claire recently to visit Greg, Karin, Tim and Dana Carr. One night they had soup for supper and the boys were reminiscing, as Matt told his mom Carolyn, “about the old soup and bread suppers in the church basement.”
Over the years, three little soup and bread supper cookbooks were compiled. The 2005 edition was Lydia Foss’ confirmation service project.
Recipes included in these cookbooks, such as Martha Stelter’s spinach bread, Joan Hansen’s mushroom paprika soup, Ann Young’s oatmeal bread and Muriel Gunnlaugson’s Island chili, may bring back lovely memories for those who participated in meals years ago.
Carolyn Foss and I thought it was about time to compile another edition of the soup and bread suppers cookbook. If you have enjoyed the meals and fellowship and would like to share a recipe with us, give us a copy in person or email them to me at by Feb. 15.
We will be sure to send copies of this new edition to Gregory, Tim, Matt and their wives!
By Patricia Hewitt
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