NEWS Chabad Social Kitchen Makes It to National Paper

By Rossella Tercatin

In Italy, 2014 was a difficult year indeed. Economic crisis, growing unemployment rate, and political scandals constantly made the front page of Italian newspapers and other media.
With all that in mind and wanting to wish Italians a happy 2015, the prominent Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera decided to offer its readers a special edition. A newspaper exclusively devoted to good news, to stories of people who did not give up, who succeeded in spite of everything, who made the country a better place while helping others. Among them, in the Food section was included the “soup kitchen” started in Milan by the Chabad-Lubavitch Chassidic movement to feed the needy.

“Beteavon Kitchen” (in Hebrew beteavon means “enjoy your meal”) was established a little over a year ago, expanding the Chabad school cafeteria.
“We were cooking every day for our students, and so we asked ourselves, ‘Why don’t we turn our small kitchen into a kitchen for everyone?’” Rabbi Igal Hazan, the school principal, told Corriere.
The key purpose of the initiative is to provide food for whoever needs it; for Jews and non-Jews alike.

The article informs the reader that the kitchen run by 25 volunteers is working closely with the Jewish Community and the City social services department. They also work with other charities so as to identify people in need: be they families or the aged and sick. One of the goals for 2015 is to get a halal certification from the Muslim community to be able to help also help those who respect Islamic dietary restrictions which are similar to Jewish ones.

The food is delivered to the people and the staff pays a lot of attention to ensure the privacy of the customers: every package is labeled with a code and not with a name, and only a very limited number of people, including the deliverers, know who is receiving it.

“Good morning Italy. This is the other side of the country, the country of good news,” reads the front page of the special edition, distributed both in print and online.
The hope is that in 2015 readers will be able to find good news more frequently on the front page of the regular Corriere della Sera.
This would be good news indeed, not only for the country but for the entire European Union.