For 25 years The Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen has been serving the homeless and those down on their luck in New York City with food for both the body and the soul. During the late winter and early spring months, the church offers -- through a generous grant -- a Writer's Workshop. One of the instructors, The New Yorker's Ian Frazier, recently wrote a pellucid essay about his years feeding souls in the magazine's May 26th edition. Author Susan Shapiro and Holy Apostles Reverend Elizabeth Maxwell also recently edited Food For The Soul: Selections From The Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen Writers Workshop. Proceeds from the anthology have been split between the program and the various authors.

Unfortunately, the present economic crisis has been a strain on the soup kitchen's resources. More people than ever, including children, are availing themselves of the church's hot meals. From The NYDaily News:

"'The economy is in a bad situation and the need is growing,' Maxwell said. 'In July we served the highest number of meals in the 25-year history of the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen, and this month we are on track to break that record. Only yesterday [Aug. 20] we served 1,691 meals.'

"The numbers for July were staggering: 31,123 people sought emergency food help at Holy Apostles."

Reverend Maxwell wrote eloquently in her June 15th sermon (available online) of the soup kitchen:

".. (W)e have been entertaining angels unaware for some time. I think of the interactions I have had with guests who have challenged me, who have asked me just the right question, who have called out patience and impatience and limitation and beyond limitation from me, who have blessed me in their words and just in their being. I think how their presence has changed our whole life as a parish."

And Susan Shapiro's husband, "Law & Order: Criminal Intent" writer Charlie Rubin recently incorporated a thinly disguised Manhattan soup kitchen into one of the plots, thus bringing the poignant drama of more and more New Yorkers, into our living rooms, if only for a moment.

[Image: HolyApostlesNYC]