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Anthony Carroccio and Katy Carey of Organic Soup Kitchen will be serving a free Thanksgiving dinner to the community at the Veterans Memorial Building Thursday from 12-5 pm. Photo by Victor Maccharoli.

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Organic Soup Kitchen hosts free Thanksgiving feast

By ERIC LINDBERG — Nov. 24, 2009

When Thanksgiving rolls around in a few days, most local residents will probably sit down to a succulent meal of roasted turkey with all the fixings.

Anthony Carroccio wants to feed the rest.

As the president and founder of Organic Soup Kitchen, a relatively new local nonprofit that provides soup to community members in need each Sunday, Carroccio is putting together a free Thanksgiving meal at the Veterans Memorial Building.

“It’s nothing fancy,” he said. “It’s just something I’m committed to.”

Beyond simply providing a meal to a handful of hungry people, Carroccio said he is striving to raise awareness of the local homeless community and the fact that the economic recession is promising to increase that population.

“Try sleeping in the bushes for three nights without a shower,” he said. “It’s pretty rough.”

Homeless people aren’t the only visitors he hopes to see on Thursday. Families, college students and local leaders are all invited to take part in the festive celebration.

Carroccio expects between 300 and 500 people will swing by to enjoy the menu of rosemary roasted turkey, quinoa walnut stuffing, honey cranberry sauce, yams, salad, vegetables and pumpkin pie.

He also plans to ensure that at least 60 percent of the food offered during the five-hour event is organically grown.

“Organic is a big part of it,” he said, describing the negative impact of processed foods. “…One thing we won’t have is saturated fats. We’re not going to laden everything with salt.”

Since he launched his organic soup kitchen approximately five months ago, serving healthy foods has been a major focus. Carroccio gets a large portion of his produce from a local organic farmer and said Lazy Acres has been a big help in finding additional items for his organic Thanksgiving feast.

“Lazy Acres came through with flying colors,” he said, describing how the store donated $500 toward turkeys, gave him a good deal on organic pies and produce, and donated gift certificates to a silent auction fundraiser earlier this month.

He’ll be spending the next few days getting ready for the meal, along with Katy Carey, a longtime friend and caterer who will be running the kitchen. The duo made a few supply runs to local businesses yesterday — picking up biodegradable plates and utensils for the feast.

They won’t be alone on Thanksgiving Day, however. Approximately 100 people have volunteered to help out at the event and more are expected to sign up in the coming days at www.organicsoupkitchen.org.

“It’s really heartwarming,” Carey said of the amount of people getting involved in the event.

She is hopeful that community members will head to the Veterans Memorial Building just to hang out and interact with those enjoying a hot meal.

When asked what inspired him to launch the Organic Soup Kitchen, which has been feeding scores of homeless individuals at Pershing Park on Sundays, Carroccio said he woke up at 3:30 in the morning a few months back and just decided he had to do something to help the growing homeless population.

The retired magazine publishing executive is already planning to expand beyond the weekly soup program and envisions a mobile soup kitchen that will make stops in certain locations along the South Coast, offering meals to all comers on a daily basis.

“We want to get this process blueprinted so it works for everyone,” Carroccio said. “So it can be duplicated across the state of California and across the nation.”

He expects to need $40,000 to $50,000 to purchase a truck for the project and bring it up to state standards for food-related operations.

But for now, Carroccio is working on ensuring his buffet-style Thanksgiving feast goes off without a hitch. The meal takes place from noon to 5 p.m. this Thursday at the Veterans Memorial Building, 112 W. Cabrillo Blvd.

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Wonderful work! : 11/24/2009

Just want to commend Anthony, Katie and all the other volunteers for their stellar work on this project.

Lia Suzuki

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Be There! : 11/24/2009

Amazing grace ~ thanks a million Anthony!

China Rose

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Thanksgiving Day : 11/24/2009

Maybe the PR Store can give all the homeless SBPD baseball caps and coffee mugs.
They must be able to afford it with all those big ads they put in the Daily Beat Down!

Boycott Boy

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Thanks for Raising the Bar : 11/24/2009

Yay for bringing organic healthy food to serving our community members in need. Thanks for raising the bar. I will be there with 4-6 friends and we are bringing our filming equipment too.

Gabrielle Sundra

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Huge success: deserves franchising : 11/26/2009

Few people realize that the quality of food makes a huge difference in your energy level, immunity, and mood, not to mention your risk for chronic illness. The commitment to organic and no saturated fats is nation-leading, and deserves attention.
This was a huge success: Manny roasted 65 turkeys starting at 6 a.m.; Katy (Ziba catering) commanded the kitchen; Kevin and I did the carving; Gillian Christie and Alissa Sears peeled potatoes and came back to serve the next day; Hannah washed trays, boards, and whatever would fit in the sink; Anthony spread the love.
Dozens more volunteers made hundreds of people with deeply nutritious, energy giving, filling food and love.
John La Puma, MD
Twitter: @johnlapuma
http://www.drjohnlapuma.com

John La Puma, MD

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Great Event : 11/30/2009

I really enjoyed being a part of this special day. I'm somewhat new to town, and it was a real kick to see these kind people I'd met at Yoga Soup, now adorned in hairnets and plastic gloves, serving up yams and the works. Terrific idea. I hope you can do it again at Christmas.

Jane St. Clair

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