Libby Federici loves her job at Haley House, a soup kitchen in Boston’s South End. On a recent weekday morning she was busy greeting guests, helping volunteers, preparing pots of fresh coffee, and answering endless questions. Butter? We have tons. Cups? I’ll grab some for you.
“Without this place there would be no me. These people are angels,” says Linda Bell, a regular guest at Haley House’s free morning breakfast.
That feeling is created by Haley House, a program that for five decades has approached social issues facing Boston’s South End community through its soup kitchen, cheap housing, urban gardens, and education programs. The organization welcomes homeless people or those living in low-income housing as a valuable part of the larger community. “It’s really important to know people as people,” says Ms. Federici, who also works for the organization while serving in the kitchen.
Instead of relying on volunteers or drive-by helpers to work in its soup kitchen, Haley House seeks out people of all ages and backgrounds who are interested in staying there for two years to help solve the social problems in South End. In exchange, they receive room and board, running its kitchen and caring for its guests.
The biggest offering that Haley House has to Boston is, it’s an example of how all these pieces are linked — food, training, jobs, housing. “We couldn’t solve that whole problem of housing homeless people. We couldn’t give jobs to everybody. But what we did was we created models,” says Ms. McKenna, who is now retired from Haley House.
“There is that strong connection to the community that Haley House workers are able to develop over their time here,” says Sean Ahern, who delivers food to Haley House. “They are really passionate about food, but more importantly, about people.”
【小题1】Which of the following best describes Libby Federici?| A．Warm-hearted. | B．Sharp-minded. | C．Generous. | D．Intelligent. |
| A．Popularizing local soup culture. | B．Educating South End neighbors. |
| C．Helping build a better community. | D．Stressing the importance of people. |
| A．They are talented cooks. | B．They do the job for free. |
| C．They live in Haley House. | D．They come from Boston. |
| A．From Haley to Boston: A Popular Model |
| B．Haley House: A Developing Organization |
| C．Libby Federici: A Worker at Haley House |
| D．From Soup to Jobs: The Haley House Story |
