Soup Kitchen Receives 'Outpouring of Support'
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – The president of the Mahoning County chapter of the St. Vincent De Paul Society hopes that a surge in pledges will help make up for past donors’ decision not to contribute to the organization following Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s Oct. 13 visit to the downtown soup kitchen.
“Coast to coast, from California to New York, there has been an outpouring of support financially and though letters in the mail and Facebook posts,” said Brian Antal. “The tide really started changing Thursday afternoon.”
Earlier in the week, he reported, he received angry phone calls from individuals at both ends of the political spectrum informing him that they would be ceasing their contributions to the society. Democrats were angry that Ryan, running mate to GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, had been permitted to use the dining hall for the 15-minute photo op following his Oct. 13 town hall at Youngstown State University. “People on the Democratic side said it appeared were endorsing the Romney-Ryan campaign, which we weren’t,” he said.
At the same time, Republicans were displeased that Antal “spotlighted the fact that the visit wasn’t authorized by the society,” he said.
In media coverage following the event, Antal pointed out that the campaign was permitted access to the soup kitchen by a volunteer who was unaware that its bylaws specify that the organization is “apolitical” and that he would not have permitted such a visit had he been aware of it in advance. Other politicians and elected officials have volunteered their time at the soup kitchen, but not during a political campaign and without cameras, he said.
The photo op drew national attention following reports a few days later that Ryan and his family, who showed up at the soup kitchen after volunteers had finished serving and most of the patrons were gone, appeared to be washing dishes that were already clean. It was later disclosed that a few dirty pans were purposely held at the request of Ryan’s advance team so that Ryan could wash them, in view of the cameras, after his event ended at YSU.
Antal said he hopes the surge in new support can compensate for the past donors who have threatened to withhold funding over the Oct. 13 incident. He declined to say how much donors threatened to withhold or how much has been raised since those threats were made public.
In addition to donations made through the official site, a campaign site at Indiegogo set up by supporters of the society has raised $12,295 as of 6 a.m.
The controversy comes at an inopportune time for an organization such as the society. With the approach of the winter months, “There is definitely an increase in those who need assistance,” he said. He has already seen a “huge increase in the working poor” and “when you start getting saddled with large gas bills to heat your home” that leaves less money for food, he said.
Copyright 2012 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.