Feel Good Friday: Good Soup for the Soul

TOLEDO, Ohio (WTVG) - Same Café is tucked into the Main Library in downtown Toledo. On any given weekday, it is chock-full of volunteers who are chopping and baking up a lot of goodwill.

Deborah Schocket is one of them.

“I love it,” she exclaimed. “For me, it’s a great combination of being able to do good for the community and, also, it’s just fun!”

Schocket jumped at the chance to be a part of Same Café as soon as she heard about the concept last fall. SAME stands for “so all may eat,” and executive director, Cory Wolin, says its mission is creating community through healthy food access.

“Food is this beautiful universal language that everyone speaks,” Wolin explained. “If you can gather around a prep table, for example, and see where your local produce is coming from, and wash it, and peel it, and chop it, and braise it, and create this divine menu each and every day, the community is happening in the kitchen and in the dining room as well.”

In exchange for a meal at Same Café, customers may volunteer 30 minutes of their time, though it is not required. Others, like Schocket, return week after week just to soak up the friendship they have created with people who used to be strangers.

“They’ll put me at the front of the line, so I’m the first person they’ll meet when they walk up,” she said. “I really enjoy explaining about the mission and how it works, and the options to participate!”

Volunteers are always needed and welcomed at Same Café, and they do not need any kitchen experience.

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