Sick in bed and far from the comforts of home? Even farther from the comforts of bubbie and her delicious, healing matzah ball soup?
That’s no longer a problem for students living in McGill University’s “student ghetto.” Hillel provides a free chicken soup service, delivering matzah ball soup to any sick Jewish student living in the vicinity.
The program was introduced to McGill in January 2008 by Jenny Hoppenheim, a first-year education student. Hoppenheim got the idea from a similar program at Emory University. Since its inception at McGill, the program has delivered about 10 bowls of soup per week.
“The service is amazing,” says Matthew Pekovsky, who helps deliver the soup. “Think of a time when you were sick, and your mother was away on business or vacation. You felt abandoned, and all you wanted was a cold compress, someone to rub your back and a nice warm bowl of chicken soup.
“Well, this project makes sure no one has to experience this feeling of abandonment. Although we may not rub your back or bring you a cold compress, we do deliver a bowl of soup in almost no time.”
The source of the all-curing soup? “My mother, Rosemary, makes the soup with me, because there is no way she could ever tell me her recipe,” Hoppenheim says. “It’s just… a little bit of this, a little bit of that. There’s always a trick.”
The soup is prepared in huge quantities – about 60 portions each time. “The first time we made it, people were tasting it and freaking out, saying the soup was amazing,” Hoppenheim recalls.
The service is available on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5 to 6 p.m. and operates through an online system. Orders can be made via e-mail, before 3 p.m. on either of those days.
“The delivery is key,” Hoppenheim notes. “The soup is for people who can’t get out of the house and trek in the snow just for some soup.”
Delivery is available for those living between Sherbrooke Street and Pins Avenue, and University Street and St-Denis Street, in the primarily student-occupied area surrounding McGill University.
Although the service is technically free, an optional donation of $2 covers basic expenses such as “carrots, chicken – your typical soup ingredients,” Hoppenheim says.
Many students in the area are far from their homes and don’t have their families around to take care of them during the cold and flu season. “Hillel’s chicken soup is the grandparents people don’t have in Montreal,” she says.
The soup program is also a great way for people to get involved with Hillel, and can help link students to the Montreal Jewish community. “We feel good about being able to do this for people,” Hoppenheim says.
So far, there have been no complaints, and even displaced mothers and bubbies seem to approve of the non-profit program.
The service will run until the end of the semester and is expected to resume in September. Inquiries and soup orders can be sent to [email protected].
