Romero House Unfazed By Vandalism

Random vandalism has not deterred one woman in her mission to feed hungry Saint Johners.

Earlier this week, someone smashed the door at Romero House, the very busy soup kitchen, on Brunswick Drive.

Executive Director Evelyn McNulty says she was notified by the alarm company and when she arrived the police were already there.

“Nobody had actually entered the building but, they did break our door. Police did check the place out and found everything seemed to be untouched. In any event, we were left without a front door,” McNulty said.

She was joined by a volunteer named Stan as the building was insecure and had to be occupied through the night until the door could be fixed.

McNulty said they kept busy cooking, cleaning and moving furniture.

“We cooked the next day’s meal and did some weird cleaning that never gets done because there is no time to do it,” McNulty.

McNulty said the soup kitchen has seen a 30 per cent increase in the number of people who are coming to the takeout window.

She said they have served nearly 60,000 meals out of their window since it all began in March.

She noticed more people using the window who were not comfortable coming in to sit down.

In an interview on Friday, McNulty said she is exploring the idea of giving out hot chocolate as the temperature drops because coffee can’t be prepped quickly due to the need for milk and sugar.

“It would also encourage people to congregate outside the building waiting to get another coffee so, we never did that. When winter comes, I am concerned about people being cold.
People walking down here to get lunch and then having to walk home because there is no coming in to get warm,” McNulty said.

McNulty said they need containers for the food they are distributing out the window which is a new need when under normal circumstances they would be using dishes.

A list of needs is posted every Sunday on the soup kitchen’s Facebook page.