By Allison Perrine | aperrine@tworivertimes.com
KEANSBURG – Last September, Red Bank’s beloved “Soupmeister” Gary Sable, former owner of That Hot Dog Place, hung up his ladle after serving delicious soups and hot dogs in the community for many years. You might remember his small alleyway shop between White and Monmouth streets, now under new management as Soul Sandwich.
Just months into his retirement, Sable now offers his culinary skills as a labor of love to the Keansburg community at the Center for Community Renewal (CCR), an outreach ministry of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 247 Carr Ave.
“I love it,” said Sable, adding he feels good while doing it.
The Hazlet resident visits the CCR twice a week to cook up tasty homemade soups, chilis, shepherd’s pie and more. His new “customers” come from different backgrounds. Some are homeless, some are addicts or recovering addicts, retired persons, unemployed or underemployed workers. Others come not for food, but fellowship.
Sable has been a St. Mark’s parishioner for years and decided to take on some volunteer work after a push from Rev. Deacon Rosemarie Broderick. “Of course, everybody loves his stuff,” she said with enthusiasm.
So much so that the first time he made his chili for the people of St. Mark’s he received a standing ovation. “I guess they liked the chili!” said Sable. He likes to cook at home as well when he’s not volunteering, but not breakfast. That’s his wife’s domain, he joked. “She’s a breakfast girl and I’m the dinner guy,” he said with a laugh.
The CCR has over 700 registered families and serves about 4,000 meals to the community every month. Breakfast and lunch meals are served daily. And twice a month the center receives 25,000 pounds of food courtesy of FulFill food bank.
“Through the blessings of what we get from the food bank, we’ve been able to serve things like coq au vin, duck l’orange, filet mignon on the grill,” said Broderick. The CCR also serves fresh fish to its visitors thanks to FulFill’s Seafood Gleaning program. It was one of the first kitchens in the area to participate in the initiative.
Recently, the CCR received a $110,000 Impact100 Jersey Coast to make several improvements to its facility, including renovating the kitchen, increasing programming for visitors, updating dining room features like new windows and air conditioning and establishing an outdoor patio area. This was the CCR’s first time applying for the Impact100 grant, and representatives were pleasantly surprised when they received it. According to Broderick, it’s difficult to get accepted the first time applying. Impact100 Jersey Coast is made up of women who try to raise awareness for the community’s needs and fund transformational grants for high-impact projects, it asserts.
But money aside, the grant also opened the CCR up to different people with varying connections and backgrounds. One woman, for example, brought her husband with an engineering background to the CCR to examine the area. “It gave us access to a lot of women, especially, who are able to help us with different not-for-profit ideas,” said Broderick. “We’re all helping one another to help the people of Keansburg.”
St. Mark’s is always seeking donations for operating expenses and paper products. The group receives plenty of food donations, but they don’t always have the paper plates, utensils and other items to go with it. “That’s where a lot of our money ends up going,” she said. “The more people we serve, the more garbage bags we need.”
For more information, visit stmarkskeansburg.org.
