WILLIMANTIC, Conn. — A malfunction with a Willimantic soup kitchen's walk-in cooler spoiled thousands of pounds of perishable foods, including what was left of their Thanksgiving dinner distribution, forcing the organization to throw out trays upon trays of food Friday.
Kitchen Manager Tom DeWolfe was getting ready to serve meals Friday at Covenant Soup Kitchen when he walked into the main cooler, which was at 51 F.
"It seems like something happened with the defrost cycle," DeWolfe told FOX61 Saturday. "In any case, all of the food was wasted at that point."
Not only did the main cooler function as a refrigerated space, but it was also where the Soup Kitchen thaws out frozen meals. Thousands of pounds of food had to be thrown out, from meat to dairy, to cheese and fruit. Leftovers from Thanksgiving and donations made ahead of Christmas also had to be discarded.
There are other coolers in use, but DeWolfe said the limited room they do have makes it harder to find space to properly store the donations they accept. They're also working to make room in their smaller coolers to fit in what local retailers donate. However, this isn't stopping Covenant Soup Kitchen from continuing to serve the community.
"Food-wise, we'll take as much as we can but we have nowhere to store it," DeWolfe said.
DeWolfe and his team will have to wait until Monday for their maintenance person to check out the cooler and find out exactly what happened. He's thankful, however, for the help he has received from his volunteers and the community during the holiday weekend after serving Thanksgiving dinner and dealing with the unexpected cooler malfunction.
"It was a huge event the last two days," DeWolfe said. "Just the awesome folks, the guests and the volunteers that were here the last two days, Thanksgiving and yesterday to try and take care of all this."
The Covenant Soup Kitchen is accepting monetary donations in anticipation of any repairs that would be needed for the broken walk-in cooler.
To make a donation online to the Covenant Soup Kitchen, go to their Venmo @covenantsoupkitchen or their Paypal account. Be aware of fake scam accounts, which the Soup Kitchen said has already been targeting potential donors.
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