The little white fellowship hall that stands adjacent to Rehoboth Presbyterian Church at Midway, at the intersection of Rt. 24 and Rt. 1 in Lewes, Delaware will forever have a lovely story to tell. A story of a generous, kind-hearted woman with a mission.
The small building is one of several sites where Dale Dunning ladled out soup for folks in need. “The Church owns the building, but they’ve let her use it as a soup kitchen for years,” says Michelle Snyder, a friend of Dale Dunning, and frequent volunteer at Dale’s Jusst Sooup Ministries.
“I first noticed the soup kitchen when my daughter, Cheyenne, 9, was in preschool. Then, I had my son, Wyatt, 6. When he was old enough to go to preschool, I decided to ask if I could volunteer for Dale.” Michelle (and now, her children too), has been volunteering there for four years. “My kids love it there,” says Michelle. In fact, Wyatt particularly loves to come to the soup kitchen to play checkers with Big Daddy, a frequent volunteer at Jusst Sooup who ministers to men, delivers food to elderly shut-ins, and also helps to distribute clothing to folks in need. “It’s so good for my kids to help there. It teaches them that life can change so quickly. We could all be in need of someone’s help in the blink of an eye,” says Michelle.
When asked how to describe Mrs. Dunning, Michelle says she can sum it up in one word: “Selfless.” Every morning, Dale is up at 2 am, to start preparing the day’s soups selections. Two varieties each day, along with fruit punch, cider and crackers. Dale makes over 1,000 quarts of soup every week. “She says she can’t even begin to tell anybody God’s Word, until their bellies are full,” says Michelle.
The little white building, though, is hardly set up for producing soup for a crowd. “It took us an hour and a half just to boil water to cook corn on the cob,” says Michelle. Even so, Dale and her team of volunteers has continued this ministry of serving soup to hungry people for the last 12 years.
Dale’s ministry began many years ago, when she began her Theological Studies in nearby Georgetown. “Many of her classes were at night, and she realized many of the other students who worked all day, weren’t eating before they came to class,” says Michelle. Dale started making soup, and bringing it to feed her fellow students. “She was really touched by the bonding and friendships that were possible with such a humble food,” says Michelle. “It grew from there.”
Supported only by personal funds and donations, Dale, son Brooks, and husband Ken, who works three jobs to support his wife’s ministry, dreamed of a permanent location for their soup kitchen; one that could feed so many more, offer more kitchen and prep space, and also storage space.
In January of this year, Schell Brothers stepped in and donated 6 acres of land to Mrs. Dunning, with the intention of helping to develop the property at some point in the future for her soup kitchen. Little did Schell Brothers know, that soon after that donation and commitment were made, they would be on the path to fulfilling that promise.
In a fortuitous chain of events, at a builder’s conference this past spring, members of the Schell Brothers team got to meet producers from Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. After learning more about the show and the application process, they decided to nominate Dale Dunning for the show. Everyone was elated to discover she had been chosen, and that the 6 acres of donated land would be used as the site of the Dunning’s new home.
Now that the Dunnings have been revealed as Extreme Makeover: Home Edition‘s latest chosen family, extreme progress is being made at the construction site. Every day, we are treated to a bit bigger picture of the exciting plans Schell Brothers and the EM:HE design team envisioned for the donated property, and how it will address Jusst Sooup’s community outreach needs.
