St. Joseph Hospital, others, step up to help Nashua Soup Kitchen

NASHUA – The Nashua Soup Kitchen & Shelter is back up and running on its own thanks to the kindness and generosity of local businesses and Telegraph readers. When the gas-fired, cast-iron Vulcan commercial stove at the soup kitchen abruptly stopped working in September, many local businesses came forward to help keep their hungry neighbors fed. After The Telegraph reported on the dire situation, the soup kitchen was flooded with calls from concerned residents, all of whom were willing to open their homes and their wallets to help out in whatever way they could. St. Joseph Hospital executive chef Al Dupont was one of the people who read the article and stepped up to help. Dupont immediately contacted the soup kitchen and offered the use of the hospital’s large commercial kitchen until a new stove could be procured. “We did whatever we could to help them in their time of crisis,” Dupont said. “They would bring in the food and we’d cook it, heat it to serve, wrap it up, then they’d bring it all back to the soup kitchen to serve for their 4 p.m.