LEWISTON – Nothing was running when Don Walsh and Tony Chambers pulled the Salvation Army’s Canteen truck up to Kennedy Park on Monday morning.
City Hall was closed, as were most of the stores and restaurants downtown. The downtown was eerily empty, and the streets were just getting wet with morning rain.
Despite the drizzle, the slushy snow and the cold, there was a small crowd waiting. By lunchtime, Walsh and Chambers had fed close to 50 people.
“It’s a pretty good way to spend the day after Christmas,” said Walsh, a longtime Salvation Army volunteer. “It’s makes you thankful for everything you do have.”
Armed with a couple of dozen bologna sandwiches and pots of hot chicken noodle soup and cocoa, they began serving the regular customers they call their community. It’s a mix of men and women, young and old, who live in the downtown area and depend on the canteen year-round for warm food and conversation.
“I don’t even think I’d eat if it weren’t for you guys,” said a man who didn’t want to be identified.
Walsh said he’s worked in the white and red panel truck for about five years. It’s one of eight emergency food canteens in northern New England and one of three in Maine.
They bring lunch to Lewiston’s Kennedy Park three times a week, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday, all year long. They don’t stop for storms, and they don’t stop for holidays.
The canteen rarely misses its weekly rounds, Walsh said. He and his volunteers were called away on Wednesday last week to work the Salvation Army collection kettles around the area. Since that’s where they get most of the money to fill the canteen’s shelves, it’s pretty important.
They were back in place Friday morning, Walsh said. And they were missed.
“They said we don’t want to go anyplace else,” Chambers said. “We want your food.”
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