These walls will say plenty

By Melanie Lekocevic

Capital Region Independent Media

RAVENA — The Soups for Seniors contest and fundraiser was held for the first time in the village, and the event packed the house.

The Senior Projects of Ravena event was so popular, several contestants ran out of soup within the first hour.

Soups for Seniors was an inaugural event in the community designed to showcase the senior center and raise money for the facility.

The event was a collaboration between the village and Senior Projects.

“This is a spin-off of a fundraiser I used to go to before COVID,” said Village Trustee Caitlin Appleby, who came up with the idea. “I really liked the sense of community that it built, so I thought we could do it here on a smaller scale. It’s win-win for everybody.”

Seventeen contestants signed up to compete in the soup contest, with one of them, Tracy Douglas from Rail to River Brewery, entering two different soups. Guests paid $5 for admission and were given samples of each of the 18 soups, ranging from seafood chowder to Zuppa soup to ham-and-potato soup.

Gabby Ambrose volunteered for the event and said it was busy from the moment the doors opened.

“We have had well over 100 people here and it’s just halfway through,” Ambrose said. “I think it’s wonderful — we should have more events like this throughout the year, just small things that aren’t expensive for the village but also aren’t expensive for the community members that want to join in. It’s just a good time.”

Appleby co-organized Soups for Seniors with Lakken Kovacik, assistant director at Senior Projects. All funds raised Saturday will go towards the center’s needs.

“The proceeds will go to the senior center, for whatever is needed,” Kovacik said. “We need some new vehicles — we are working with a couple of different entities to get money for new Meals on Wheels vehicles. All the money we raise goes to the senior center.”

The center’s Meals for Wheels program — which delivers lunches and dinners to the community’s homebound residents — reaches far beyond the boundaries of Ravena, and puts a lot of mileage on its delivery vans.

“We do a congregate meal program on Mondays and Thursdays for dinner, and Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays for lunch at Van Allen Apartments in Glenmont, and we also do two buildings in Albany, one of which, Parkview Apartments, had a catastrophe with flooding and electrical, and at least 25 people were displaced to the Comfort Inn. We deliver meals there, too.”

Supporting the village’s older residents is important, Appleby said, and shining a light on the senior center and its needs will go a long way to doing that.

“Our elder population is a very important population and I think they get overlooked a lot,” Appleby said. “I think this puts a focus and a light on a population that definitely needs help and support. And to me, this is community building.”

The senior center, which is available to rent for birthday parties, bridal showers and other events, was also showcased, she said.

Rebecca Flach, from Hopefull Life Center, made a ham-and-potato soup that highlighted ingredients available at Helping Harvest, a food assistance program for people in need of a helping hand.

“I made the soup using ingredients from Helping Harvest to demonstrate the variety and quality of the food products that we have there,” Flach said.

Mayor Bill Misuraca, owner of the Halfway House Tavern, said it was gratifying to see so many residents attend the event.

“It’s a huge turnout,” said Misuraca, who also entered a seafood chowder into the contest. “We are so glad to see the community rally up for the seniors — that is so important.”

Some of the soup entries were made by restaurateurs, but many were family favorites made by the community’s home chefs, like 15-year-old Hayden Hyslop, who made Zuppa soup.

Many entrants said they participated in the event to help out an important community resource.

“This is to help out the community and the seniors,” said Jaime Hopkins from Trackside Pizza and More, who made a clam chowder.

Yvonne Shackleton made a coconut curry lentil soup from a vegan recipe she found online, and Deana Ferrusi cooked up an Italian escarole with white bean soup.

“It’s a twist on a family recipe,” Ferrusi said. “My grandfather’s favorite food was escarole and beans, and I just played with it a little bit.”

Tracy Douglas, co-owner of Rail to River Brewing, made Knoephla, a favorite in North Dakota that uses chicken and tiny dumplings.

“It came over with the Russian-Germans,” Douglas said. “They settled in North Dakota and because North Dakota is so full of root vegetables, grains and chicken, in the middle of winter, when it’s so cold, this is a stick-to-your ribs meal for them. It is totally indigenous to North Dakota. Knoephla means ‘tiny buttons,’ and that is what the dumplings look like.”

Each guest was given five tickets they could hand out to their favorite soups, and when all was said and done, the winner of the 2023 Soups for Seniors contest was Shelly Fitch, who made a corn chowder. Fitch was awarded the prize money of $200 and donated it back to the senior center.

Saturday’s event raised $1,000 for Senior Projects of Ravena.

“I’m really proud of the turnout — it was amazing for the first time we have done something like this,” Appleby said. “The community really showed up. It was very heartwarming to see everyone smiling and laughing and enjoying each other’s company. And who doesn’t love soup?”