The Warming House: Building connections and feeding the community

For Dan Schiffhauer, it was the support and cheery demeanor of the senior coordinators that has kept him working at the Warming house for so long.

Cecelia Byrne, a freshman undeclared business major from Rochester, works with Schiffhauer every Friday. Being one of the newest coordinators, she is already experiencing the positive environment that attracted Schiffhauer to the position.

The Warming House is a student-run soup kitchen overseen by St. Bonaventure University’s Franciscan Center for Social Concern (FCSC). Being one of the oldest student-run soup kitchens in the country, the Warming House will be celebrating its 50th anniversary in two years.

“People just have a lot of fun here,” Byrne said. “When our Friday team gets together we have a grand old time. Everyone is friends and there is always banter that just makes it a really positive environment.”

Byrne brings with her to the Warming House every week an expertise of baking. The Warming House serves a dessert with every meal and they strive to provide quality baked goods.

“Baking is one of my favorite hobbies.” Byrne said, with a huge grin. “I just enjoy the fact that I get to bake so much for people who really appreciate it and that it’s for a good cause.”

The people who work with Byrne say she brings far more than a talent for baking.
When she isn’t rolling cookie dough, Byrne engages guests in conversations ranging from their preferred baked goods to music.

“One day a woman saw me wearing a Beatles shirt and she ended up telling me a story about her experience with them growing up in the 60’s,” said Byrne. “She told me about how she listened to them perform at Shay stadium in real time on the radio and I just thought that was so cool because I love music.”

These connections are one of the aspects Schiffhauer finds to be the most special about the Warming House.

“I know a lot of the guests by name and they know me by name,” Schiffhauer said. “There is a relationship of friendship between us and the guests.”

Schiffhauer also values the relationships he has formed with the other coordinators.

“Lindsay was the first coordinator I worked with,” said Schiffhauer. “She greeted me with the same cheerful spirit every day and always remained positive and set the idea that there was an achievable goal for the day.”

Remembering how good the senior coordinators such as Lindsay Lytle, who graduated with an environmental science degree in May of 2022, made him feel is part of the reason Schiffhauer has stayed a coordinator for five semesters. He wants to pass the torch to new coordinators like Byrne and give the same feeling of community, hopefully keeping it going long after he has graduated.

On any given Friday, Byrne and Schiffhauer could serve between 40 and 80 meals.

“Underestimating how many meals we need and having it come back to bite us is one of the biggest challenges,” Schiffhauer said. “One day we were almost 20 meals short and it left us scrambling to come up with something to serve.”

While Schiffhauer and Byrne take on different jobs on Fridays, they both play an equally important role in chipping away at hunger, whether that be for food or friendship, in the Olean area.

If you were to walk into the Warming House on a Friday, you would likely find Byrne baking something delicious while laughing with the other coordinators and volunteers and setting the tone with a carefully curated playlist.

One might expect to find Schiffhauer getting into a groove with the massive pile of dishes by the industrial sinks and being ready to jump in whenever a guest or coordinator asks for his help.

The Warming House is run through the FCSC, which receives no direct funding from the university. Donations made on #GivingTuesdayatBonas are what allow coordinators like Byrne and Schiffhauer to continue doing the work they are doing.

“Your donations are going to people in the community that just need a little pick me up,” Byrne said.

“Putting food on the plates of people who need it most,” Schiffhauer said. “That is what your donations are going towards.”

Volunteers also play an important role in keeping the Warming House going.

“If you are considering volunteering, just do it,” Schaeffer said. “Worst case scenario you helped a worthwhile cause; best case you find something you really enjoy doing.”

Article and photos by Elizabeth Egan, '23

Elizabeth Egan is a third-year journalism student, graduating early with the Class of 2023. Having worked at the FCSC’s soup kitchen and Warming House since her first year at Bonaventure, she is familiar with the benefits the FCSC can have on the community and the students. She uses that familiarity along with her developing journalism skills to tell the stories of the FCSC and its student volunteers. After graduation, Elizabeth hopes to work as a reporter and is beginning to seek out jobs at a number of newspapers and online publications. You can contact Elizabeth at eganea20@bonaventure.edu with any questions about her work.