On January 9, 1974, the Benedictine Sisters served the first meal at Emmaus Soup Kitchen. It included soup, peanut butter, and bread. Fifty years later, there are still hungry people in Erie and Emmaus Soup Kitchen continues to serve hot meals. To mark 50 years, staff and volunteers offered soup and homemade bread along with pot roast, vegetables, and mashed potatoes, all home made. The special dessert, donated and served by faithful volunteers, was ice cream sundaes.

Three of the sisters who served the meal on Wednesday, January 10, 2024, were present when the soup kitchen served its first meal: Sisters Dianne Sabol, Rosanne Lindal-Hynes, and Carolyn Gorny-Kopkowski, who was the first director of what became Emmaus Ministries. Also serving were long time staff members Benedictine Oblate Margaret Kloecker and Sister Lucia Surmik. Sister Marcia Sigler, who has volunteered at the kitchen for decades, also helped serve. 

Sister Valerie Luckey, who became the director of Emmaus in May when Sister Mary Miller who had served as director for 42 years unexpectedly died, invited the sisters to serve the special meal, noting that, “We wanted to make a really special meal to honor our guests and to honor everybody who came before us in this ministry."

In a television interview, Sister Carolyn said, “They serve 200, 300 people a day now. We served maybe 300 people a month in those early days and we never had food like what we have tonight.” See the interview here.

Sister Valerie continued, “The reality is that there are unsafe winds outside today, there’s terrible weather, streets are closed, trees are down, and there are still people who have to wait in line for food. And so just to still have to do that after 50 years and to still wait for those systemic changes that will bring up the dignity of every human being, that’s what we still need."

The work of Emmaus is bigger now than serving a meal each evening. The organization has grown to include an urban garden that supplies fresh produce for the kitchen and to share with those in need. There is a food pantry that distributes bags of food to persons in need two days a week, and Sister Gus' Kids Cafe where children can go after school and receive a hot meal, help with homework, and spend time in a safe place.

Learn more about Emmaus Ministries here.