German students provide helping hand at Fairmont Soup Opera

By Paul Fallon
Times West Virginian

FAIRMONT May 08, 2008 01:03 am

— The Soup Opera, a local charitable organization which works to feed the hungry, is always looking for volunteers to work in the kitchen and dining room, but on Wednesday the organization got some helping hands from all the way across the Atlantic Ocean.
Eleven high school students from Germany traveled to the United States in order to learn how to better speak the English language. But while they were here, the group also completed some service projects as well.
“We tried to pick out a project that would get the students to converse in English as much as possible,” said Mindy Kerekes, a Fairmont native who now resides in Germany where she teaches English.
“And we thought a project like this would be good for them,” she added.
The students were busy serving food at the Soup Opera through the late morning and into the early afternoon. The students served food and drinks. They also put out silverware and cleaned up after the lunch. The group also worked in the clothes closet at the agency as well, said Vicky Steele, executive director of the Soup Opera.
“Their teacher told me that they (students) wanted to do things the regular volunteers do,” Steele said. “And that’s what they’re doing.”
Michael Kleinen, the principal of International High School Pierre Trudeau, the school the students attend, said the service project at the Soup Opera would do the students a lot of good. He pointed out that the German students attended a private high school in their country.
“They have very comfortable living conditions at home,” Kleinen said. “They need to see the other side.”
Kleinen said there are soup kitchens and homeless shelters in Germany as well. However, the organizations are normally supported by churches.
Felix Stegemann said he was having fun while in America. Stegemann is like many other 13-year-old boys around the globe. German high schools run from fifth to 12th grade. He likes to play sports and even mentioned that he and his German compatriots lost a basketball game to the “Americans” while on their visit.
However, Stegemann is not all about sports and fun, he likes to lend a helping hand too.
“It’s good that people have a place to eat and to get clothes,” he said.
E-mail Paul Fallon at pfallon@timeswv.com.