Friday, January 30, 2009
Good for the soul
For seven years, the Soup Man served up songs and scrumptious soups made from scratch at the RAM House kitchen.
Photo courtesy of Allison Martin, RAM House
Wilson Hoffman, who has volunteered with Roanoke Area Ministries for seven years, has left Roanoke to serve a one-year mission for his church.
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If Wilson Hoffman, a 77-year-old volunteer with Roanoke Area Ministries, ever missed his weekly shift at the RAM House kitchen, clients of the day shelter would ask, "Where's the Soup Man?"
Hoffman -- or Soup Man, as people call him -- volunteered every Tuesday for seven years at the day shelter.
Now he is headed out of town, on another mission of service, taking with him a cheery disposition and an uncanny ability to make scrumptious soups out of scraps and leftovers.
"Everything he made was always great because he could just take nothing and make something really good out of it," said Debbie Adams, also a kitchen volunteer.
The RAM House kitchen offers a free hot lunch 365 days a year to anyone who needs it. Since early January, people who eat at the kitchen have been asking where he is -- the man who could come up with a different delicious soup every week.
The kitchen manager, Linda Cannon, also known for her cooking prowess, every Tuesday morning gave the Soup Man free rein to create something of his liking. And it's not like he repeated recipes.
"I never use a recipe," Hoffman said, reached on his cellphone on his way to his new endeavor. "I take whatever's available, and then I decide what kind of flavor I want, and then I work towards that."
He gave his concoctions random names loosely related to the ingredients such as, "Alabama Okra Soup," "Arizona Bean Soup," or "Hungarian Goulash with a Hint of Czech Republic."
Another one was "Rhode Island Red Chicken Soup." This is how he explained the process: Cut up some cooked chicken. Put diced potatoes, corn, whole tomatoes and lots of onions in a pot with leftover tomato soup from the previous day. Add the chicken, cook the soup, and season with salt, pepper and sage to taste.
The Soup Man, a retired textile business executive, learned his unwritten recipes from his mother. As the youngest of 11 children living on a farm in rural Pennsylvania, he grew up helping his mother cook for his siblings with whatever they could scrape up.
The Soup Man brought another key ingredient to his work: an ebullience that could have been called, "Hoffman Chicken Soup for the RAM House Soul."
As the first person to greet people in the line (the soup is the first item), the Soup Man would smile and announce the name of the day's selection. Sometimes he would break into song.
"I enjoyed making soup at the RAM House because I enjoy serving people," he said. "The people who come in there are very decent people who have not been able to take care of themselves."
So where is the Soup Man going?
Hoffman, a devout Mormon, will be serving a one-year mission with his wife, Donna, to help people find their ancestors through the Family History Library of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
As he did in Roanoke, the Soup Man will serve the people.
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