Not many at soup kitchen
There’s something very, very Icelandic about this:
Only a handful of people showed up at the restaurant Nítjánda on the 19th floor of the glass tower in Kópavogur yesterday to accept free soup and bread. Twenty of the restaurant’s staff members had cooked 100 liters of soup, cream of vegetables, and set tables for 500 people.
“Maybe we are too far away for some people and people find it difficult to get here, it’s hard to say. But we will continue in the coming Mondays, that’s for sure,” Thórey Ólafsdóttir, the operating director of Nítjánda, told Morgunbladid.
The few people who did show up told ruv.is that they were pleased with Nítjánda’s initiative and encouraged others to join them next Monday.
Free soup on Mondays is a charity initiative in reaction to summer vacations at charity organizations, which have distributed free food to those in need until now. Nítjánda’s guests criticized charities for closing at the same time. People can have free soup at Nítjánda on the coming two Mondays between 5 pm and 7 pm.
People are also welcome to buy soup.
That is just so, so sweet and endearing. Unfortunately, it is also very Icelandic for help organizations to all close at the same time for the summer. Year after year.
If you have any question about Iceland that is “neither rude, thick, nor difficult to answer”, then Eygló Svala Arnarsdóttir will answer it for you. She’s a very nice lady and loves her country and Iceland Review.
By the way, the headline which really tickled my fancy was:
Filed under: Society & human issues
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/china-has-been-covertly-funding-housing-bubble-five-times-larger-us-65-million-vacant-homes-
We are all going to need free soup soon.
‘ … Nítjánda’s guests criticized charities for closing at the same time … ‘
That’s the trouble with thinking of recipients of charity as customers: They think they have the right to complain. Mrs Gruff works at the sharp end of charity provision and she always tells those who complain that they are free to pay for the service elsewhere if they are dissatisfied (there are plenty of businesses that would happily take the substantial sums of money the recipients save because they are eligible for the charity’s services). That usually shuts them up.
Perhaps the low turnout was due to the inconvenience of traveling to the 19th floor. I do hope the excess soup could be stored instead of wasted.
How handy that the free soup was of such quality that the people that really needed it could last a week before a refill. Never mind all closing at the same time were they every really open?
Thanks, Wolfie.
Other lads all – thanks for those words of wisdom.
Mrs Gruff works at the sharp end of charity provision and she always tells those who complain that they are free to pay for the service elsewhere if they are dissatisfied
That is an excellent response