ENFIELD, CT – On Feb. 17, the Little Sisters of the Poor will be having their fifth annual Soup Sale at St. Joseph’s Residence on 1365 Enfield St. selling broccoli & cheddar and New England clam chowder. All orders are to go and will be available for drive thru and pick up from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m.

The Little Sisters of the Poor are a congregation of Roman Catholic women founded in 1839 by Saint Jeanne Jugan. Together with a network of collaborators, they serve the neediest elderly of every race and religion in over 30 countries around the world. The Little Sisters at St. Joseph’s Residence provides care for 85 elderly residents. They originally started in New Haven, but moved to Enfield in 1972 where they currently reside.

Development Director Sister Frances MacKay said the Development Department comes up with many ideas for fundraisers. Every month the Little Sisters of the Poor do a fundraiser to raise funds to care for their elderly residents in the building.

Little Sisters is a Mendicant order, a lifestyle of poverty, traveling and living in urban areas for purposes of preaching, evangelization, and ministry especially to the poor. Considering they are a nonprofit, all of the money they receive is from the petitioning they do outside of the community, businesses or fundraisers they have.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Sister MacKay said, “I feel grateful that we are able to hold this event and have created a drive thru experience this year.  Every order will be pre-packaged, labeled, and ready for pick up from the front curb.  We will have Sisters and volunteers to help make the even run as smooth and efficient as possible.”

This event’s proceeds will go toward the Golden Capital Campaign 22 – their main house fundraiser where they list at least three projects that needs to be done for the safety and well-being of the home and of the residents to have a more energy efficient home. Ongoing building projects that need to be upgraded and replaced such as boilers, plumbing and electrical switches. One of the biggest, most costly projects they need to complete is to replace the electrical panels on each floor and the main large switch board in the basement.

The Little Sisters are planning to have their annual Scone sale in March as long as they’re able to. Then a ham drop is scheduled for April 3 and will operate exactly like the Thanksgiving Turkey Drop they hosted in November. Donors can drop off their ham and Easter candy at the front entrance in a drive-by fashion. The Sisters and volunteers will be there to greet them and accept the donations, so there is no need for people to get out of their cars. In May, the Sisters would like to have their rock-a-thon and bake sale. Residents seek donations, sitting in rocking chairs all day with live music and entertainment. Though this event is to be determined as of now, the Sisters are hopeful that they might have it this year. They must follow the rules given by the health department and if they’re still not able to have visitors in the house they will have cancel or postpone this event.

Sister MacKay said, “We pray that we get relief from COVID soon for our residents especially. They are eager to get back to visits and seeing their families and friends.”

To order soups online go to https://LSPsoup.givesmart.com. For questions call 860-265-1872 or email enasstdevelopment@littlesistersofthepoor.org.