Hopewell Middle Students Volunteer at Soup Kitchen

Students and teacher sponsors of the Jr. Beta Club volunteered at the St. Francis Table Homeless Soup Kitchen in downtown Atlanta on Saturday Jan. 21.

Jr. Beta Club President Nico Leis and sponsor teachers Erin Bolling and Stephanie Sosebee led the 20 peer volunteers at the soup kitchen, arriving at 6 a.m. and staying until 12:30 p.m. They worked through preparation, three soup servings and cleanup.

Leis had been collecting hotel toiletries from his father, who travels on business, and anyone else he could get to save toiletries from trips for his toiletry drive. Those were handed out to shelter guests who were in need.

Liam Nugent a regular volunteer at St. Francis Table, organized the Jr. Betas  to bake and bring fresh cornbread to the shelter for the guests to have as a treat with their soup. The St. Francis Table guests enjoy fresh cornbread, especially spicy cornbread ,and the kids in the club have organized several cornbread collections through out the year.

The day took on extra meaning because Saturday had bad weather in Atlanta, with tornado watches, and the homeless guests that arrived were cold and wet from the bad weather and very appreciative of service run.

"The kids were touched and impacted to see the guests coming in from living out in the streets in these conditions. It was wonderful to see the kids get involved with their community," said Ana Maria Leis, mother of the Jr. Beta Club president.