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Feeding the Hungry Around the World

Journalist Stephen Henderson heard the call to visit soup kitchens in many countries around the world.

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Travel the world with journalist Stephen Henderson, who has worked in soup kitchens in many countries, meeting the people they serve and gaining an understanding of the charitable traditions of other faiths and cultures.

Henderson stirs a pot of beef bourguignonne; photo courtesy Stephen Henderson
Credit: courtesy Stephen Henderson

1 of 11 St. Louis, Missouri

On assignment in India, food and travel writer Stephen Henderson came upon a soup kitchen open 24/7. Inspired, he cooked there for a week, beginning a journey of service that took him around the globe. Here, he makes beef bourguignonne for 300 hungry folks.


Hope Presbyterian Church in Richfield, MN; photo courtesy Stephen Henderson
Credit: courtesy Stephen Henderson

2 of 11 Richfield, Minnesota

At Hope Presbyterian Church, a charitable meal offered on weekday evenings attracts mostly seniors—people with fixed incomes who sometimes can’t afford both medications and groceries.

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Making meatballs in Guadalajara, Mexico; photo courtesy Stephen Henderson
Credit: courtesy Stephen Henderson

3 of 11 Guadalajara, Mexico

Staff and volunteers at a Catholic mission make meatballs stuffed with capers for a Day of the Dead fiesta, which will raise awareness of Rev. David Kalke’s work to provide a place of support and safety for sex workers.


A 24/7 soup kitchen in Delhi, India; photo courtesy Stephen Henderson
Credit: courtesy Stephen Henderson

4 of 11 Delhi, India

At the soup kitchen where Stephen’s journey began, volunteers use equipment that’s decidedly low-tech. Men, women and children are let in 600 at a time, around the clock, to eat a vegetarian meal on a tin plate.


A delivery of cauliflower in Delhi, India; photo courtesy Stephen Henderson
Credit: courtesy Stephen Henderson

5 of 11 Delhi, India

The soup kitchen depends on donations like this truckload of cauliflower. Stephen spent several days cutting up the vegetables “while Sikh holy men streamed through the kitchen, shouting prayers at astonishing volume.”

Volunteers make chapati bread in Delhi, India; photo courtesy Stephen Henderson
Credit: courtesy Stephen Henderson

6 of 11 Delhi, India

No meal would be complete without chapati (a flatbread) that volunteers prepare around the clock, feeding 20,000 people every day. This kindled Stephen’s interest in “generosity devoted to nourishing the needy.”

An open-air market in La Grama, Peru; photo courtesy Stephen Henderson
Credit: courtesy Stephen Henderson

7 of 11 La Grama, Peru

Stephen helped feed a crew of several dozen who were building a garden for the poorest residents of this Andean village. Nattie, the unofficial mayor, took Stephen to the open-air market and let him use her kitchen.

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Stephen donated a goat to help feed hundreds in Bukhara, Uzbekistan; photo courtesy Stephen Henderson
Credit: courtesy Stephen Henderson

8 of 11 Bukhara, Uzbekistan

Stephen learned of an Islamic custom to donate an animal and have its meat cooked and given to the poor. Blessed by imams, the ram Stephen donated was paired with rice, feeding several hundred people.


Soup kitchen manager Aryeh Cohen in Jerusalem, Israel; photo courtesy Stephen Henderson
Credit: courtesy Stephen Henderson

9 of 11 Jerusalem, Israel

Aryeh Cohen manages this Meir Panim (meaning “brightening faces” in Hebrew) soup kitchen. Cohen, a Talmudic scholar, taught Stephen about tzedakah, the Jewish concept of charity.


The Midnight Mission in downtown Los Angeles; photo courtesy Stephen Henderson
Credit: courtesy Stephen Henderson

10 of 11 Los Angeles, California

Founded in 1914, the Midnight Mission in downtown L.A. runs one of the oldest and largest soup kitchens in the United States. It offers food, shelter and other services for some 60,000 people who live on the city’s streets.

This Midnight Mission’s outdoor lunch served about 2,000; photo courtesy Stephen Henderson
Credit: courtesy Stephen Henderson

11 of 11 Los Angeles, California

This Midnight Mission’s outdoor lunch served about 2,000. Stephen was forever changed by seeing the world through its soup kitchens. He still volunteers weekly at a soup kitchen in New York’s Hudson Valley.

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