Volunteer Empie Davis, from St. John the Divine Church in Saunderstown, passes out soup in Galilee last week.

The Providence Journal / John Freidah

NORTH KINGSTOWN — Nancy Chapman stops on a gentle summer morning at St. John the Divine Church, which sits small and quiet on a hushed street in Saunderstown.

From the church kitchen, she packs up crackers, spoons and cups. She loads her car trunk, lined with a sheet, and climbs back in her car.

First stop, Narragansett, where the chef at the Galilee Mission for Fisherman has soup hot ready for pickup. With two containers filled with chicken escarole securely in her trunk, she heads south to the docks.

She does nothing more than stop her car along one wharf, and then another, open the trunk, and pull out the soup. Slowly, people walk toward her from boats and buildings, approaching from different directions.

“Would you like some soup?”

She gets a thumbs-up from a worker at a fish-processing plant, who asks simply, “What kind is it today?” Positive responses from all, even those who look shyly from afar as she holds up the soup ladle.

She fills large coffee cups with the meatball-studded broth, fills them to the brim, adds a spoon, a package of oyster crackers, a friendly smile.

While Chapman usually delivers the soup once a month, others from the church also are assigned their day in this soup troop, which visits the docks twice a week, every week, all year.

Summer, winter, slush, stabbing heat. They are mostly retired. They are men and women. They are church members, but not necessarily weekly visitors.

Some who come for the soup have lunch items in a bag, or a car, the soup adding a hot appetizer to what they brought along. Others just eat the soup, accepting seconds, returning then to the fish-processing plant where they work, or the nearby boats.

This soup trooper doesn’t ask any questions of them, other than if they want some soup, and she’s mostly not asked questions in return. But once she was asked, why. Why hand out soup?

She responded, “because it needs to be done.”

IN WASHINGTON COUNTY, where nearly 10,000 people live below the federal poverty line, just where do people turn for assistance?

Helping-hand agencies such as the Jonnycake Centers in Peace Dale and Westerly do much of the work. But to whomdo the agencies turn when their food pantries run thin?

Many times, help comes to the agencies — and sometimes, directly to people in need — from area churches. Donations go out to state and international needs as well.

The Chapel of St. John the Divine, for instance, also contributes to the North Kingstown Food Pantry, and donates holiday gift baskets, which are mostly given out along the docks of Galilee. Last year, gave out more than 50 baskets.

The church also offers gift cards for food and heating oil assistance on an individual basis, and its 100 members hold an annual clothing sale and contribute to the Episcopal Charities drive.

According to parish administrator Lori Jackson, the weekly soup run to the docks is often in need of volunteers to take the soup and supplies to the dock. If you want to help: Contact the church, at 20 Church Way, North Kingstown, by calling (401) 295-0193.

THEIRS IS ONE offering among many that go out from South County’s houses of worship to those who come looking for help, and those who don’t.

Information for this story has been compiled from responses to a letter sent out in early May to nearly 70 houses of worship in the area. The addresses were gathered by way of a notice we ran in the newspaper over a series of weeks, and from information we already had.In addition to national and statewide efforts, contributions to Catholic Charities and other similar efforts, many groups participate in special projects.

Here’s some of what we found out from those that responded to our question of how they contribute to low-income populations:

• The Babcock Presbyterian Church, Ashaway, has long had a representative on the board of directors of the local Jonnycake Center, wrote Jennifer Adams, clerk of session.

“This direct association with this nonprofit assistance organization has provided our church with up-to-date information concerning needs in the local community. The congregation has donated clothing, food and monetary assistance on a steady basis. Also, Bradford Jonnycake Center is a budgeted mission to which Babcock Church contributes on a regular basis.

“If there is a local need of any kind and there is notification from an agency and it is brought to the attention of our missions committee, Babcock takes up a special offering. Within a week or two, the money is to the source of need.”

The church also donates to families at Christmas.

If you want to help: Contact the church, 99 Maxson St., Ashaway, (401) 377-4917.

• Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha Church, Exeter, has 73 families. It conducts a food drive at Thanksgiving, clothing at Christmas. Members also provide assistance with utilities. Their contact person is Sister Antoinette Jacques. The church, at 84 Exeter Rd., did not provide a telephone number.

• The Central Baptist Church, Jamestown, has about 150 members, and they collect food monthly, donating it to various state and local agencies, including Bridges Inc., an organization that provides services and housing (including group homes) for adults with developmental disabilities in southern Rhode Island. They donate to South Providence Neighborhood Ministries at Christmas, and provide summer camp scholarships.

They also provide funds to assist local people during times of “special need,” writes Kathryn Palen.

The church is at 99 Narragansett Ave., (401) 423-1651.

• Church of the Ascension, Wakefield, lists a free weekly Sunday supper served from 5 to 6 p.m. in the church hall. The food is mostly donated and prepared by church members.

The church also donates to the Jonnycake Center, Peace Dale, Welcome House, Peace Dale, and Heifer International, and holiday donations go to St. Mary’s Home for Children. Dawn Pires said the parish of about 350 makes financial contributions and volunteers its time to local charities and organizations.

The church is at 370 Main St., Wakefield, (401) 783-2911.

• The Exeter Chapel last year helped “at least 45 individuals and families to pay their electric, gas, oil, food, rent and health needs,” wrote Robert Santaniello, pastoral assistant. “During the fall/winter holiday times, we have an ongoing food pantry that gets distributed to local folks as is needed.”

Sometimes church members invite community members who are struggling into their homes for a meal, holiday or otherwise. They are also involved with URI’s international population, he said. A “Carpenters’ Hands” group helps build wheelchair-accessible ramps and does other home chores as needed.

“Beyond the borders of Exeter, we are involved with the Providence Rescue Mission, both financially and by participating with their programs two times a month. Care Net of Rhode Island is dear to our hearts as well, and we have some volunteers working with them and we help in raising monies for their work and donating needed items as we can.”

The church is at 765 Ten Rod Rd., (401) 294-2546.

• The First Seventh Day Baptist Church, Ashaway, with an average attendance of 40, collects food for the Jonnycake Center four times a year, notes Vivian Looper, clerk.

“Individuals within the congregation are sensitive to needs within the community and coordinate providing for these needs,” she wrote. A free meal is available after worship services on Sabbath, and the pastor, she said, visits individuals within the community to coordinate needs. Funds are also sent to various projects overseas.

The church is at 8 Church St., Ashaway, (401) 377-2123.

• The Liberty Baptist Church, Exeter, Raymond Clement, pastor, said they have a small and older congregation, but make a habit of sending out donations of food at least four times a year to the Exeter Food Pantry. Though they number only 30 to 35 people, he said they deliver a truck-load of food to the pantry.

The church is at 279 Liberty Rd., at (401) 295-5231.

• The Lutheran Church of The Good Shepherd, Kingston, has about 181 members, and contributes regularly to the Jonnycake Center, Peace Dale, with donations of food and money, with additional donations during the holidays.

“We also dedicate our Lenten offering to either Welcome House or the Domestic Violence Resource Center of South County. We participate annually in the coat drive organized by Emmanuel Lutheran Church, West Warwick, and our bakers make desserts for the Storehouse Friday dinners a few times a year,” notes Riitta Passananti, of the outreach committee.

“Our largest contributions to the needy, however, are through ELCA World Hunger programs as well as Lutheran World Relief.

“Individual assistance is available at Pastor’s discretion from our Discretionary Fund.”

The church is at 383 Old North Road, Kingston, (401) 789-7776.

• St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church, Kingston, has about 100 households, but started out as a URI campus ministry.

“We have had a longstanding mission commitment to assist the work of the Jonnycake Center, Peace Dale. For several years, we have fulfilled our goal of giving one ton of groceries annually for their distribution,” writes Jennifer Phillips, rector. They also contribute to diocese charities.

They contribute to Habitat for Humanity, Westerly’s WARM shelter, Welcome House, and contributed to the Sunday evening suppers at the Church of the Ascension.

“We do a small amount of direct assistance in responses to the dozens of calls for food, utility, prescription, travel, and rent assistance.”

The church is at 35 Lower College Rd., Kingston, (401) 783-2153.

• St. Elizabeth’s Episcopal Church Hope Valley is a small group, writes senior warden David E. Hearty. Its members contribute to a discretionary fund used to assist in emergency situations, contribute to the local food bank, and to their diocesan on the state level.

The church is at 63 Canonchet Rd., Hope Valley, (401) 539-7346.

• St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, Jamestown, donates food and coats to the Jonnycake Center, Peace Dale. The church has a thrift shop, open twice a week, where it sells items at budget prices and donates items to organizations.

“Members of our parish serve at the Grace Church Meal Site, Providence, six times a year,” writes Kevin Lloyd, rector. (“St. Matthew’s is the only church that provides all the food for these meals, so as not to de-plenish the meal site pantry.”)

The church has a few endowed funds that are devoted to providing financial assistance to residents in need, contribute at Christmas to Lucy’s Hearth and to its diocese fund.

The church is at 87 Narragansett Ave., Jamestown, (401) 423-1762.

• St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, North Kingstown, provides utility and housing assistance for North Kingstown families, and contributes to the North Kingstown Food Pantry, writes Debra Ann Mahoney, parish administrator.

“Members of our parish volunteer for the Salvation Army bell ringing during Christmas, and volunteer at the Epiphany soup kitchen in Providence regularly throughout the year.

They donate money, time and food to create approximately 200 gift baskets to be distributed throughout the town at Christmas, she said. A Christian Action Committee “reviews and recommends where donations are sent to various organizations for the poor.”

The church is at 55 Main St., Wickford, (401) 294-4357.

• St. Peter’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church, Narragansett, has about 480 members and they contribute to the Jonnycake Center, and its own food pantry which is open twice a week.

“All are welcome,” writes Ann Rheault. “We do not require any proof of need, nor do we require people to fill out applications for food stamps before we will serve them.”

The parish contributes to holiday adopt-a-family programs, Habitat for Humanity, the Galilee Mission and to its own pre-school by way of scholarships.

“We also donated to several anonymous families in need; these are members of our parish who asked the rector for assistance.”

The church is at 77 Central St., Narragansett, (401) 783-4623.

• The Trinity Lutheran Church, Ashaway, has about 144 members, and has a food pantry that is open one day a week stocked with contributions from members and area businesses. They give holiday baskets.

“Recipients are not screened — we are open to all in need,” writes Hermine Barton, of the social ministry committee.

The church is at 119 High St., Ashaway, (401) 377-4340.

•The Unitarian Universalist Congregation of South County, with about 130 members, not only helps others, but also its own members. “Our own ministry to one another is a significant element in our efforts,” writes John Glasheen, chairman of the church social action committee.

The group also supplies a monthly meal to the Welcome House shelter, contributes to a local Habitat for Humanity project, and contributes to holiday programs through South County Community Action. They contribute to national and international projects, and the church “invests much time in local, state and national advocacy efforts as well.”

While the group has been meeting at South Kingstown’s American Legion Hall on Route 108, it expects to relocate to the Lily Pads, Unit B, Peace Dale, by the end of the year.

10 High St., Wakefield, (401) 783-4170.

• Westerly’s Religious Society of Friends, also known as Quakers, were among those groups which founded the Westerly Area Meals Shelter 20 years ago, said clerk Tracie Sweeney. “Our involvement continues in many ways. Many of Westerly friends’ outreach efforts are done through the WARM Shelter.”

They prepare and serve meals, hold fundraisers, offer food and holiday baskets, and conduct a yearly bowl-a-thon. The Westerly group has about 70 members.

“All of our members participate in some way in efforts to alleviate poverty and assist low-income populations, but we have two committees whose work focuses especially on such efforts.”

The society is at 57 Elm St., Westerly (401) 348-7078.

afleming@projo.com