Peter on with James Rojas of WBZ New Radio
Peter Kelleher, the SoupMan, of Bridgewater is on a mission to help the #homeless. Listen to @wbznewsradio to hear his amazing story & his goals for the future. @SupportSoupman https://t.co/ThqMw2aEEL pic.twitter.com/GgvahIbsiL
— James Rojas (@JamesRojasWBZ) April 17, 2019
BANGOR – Millinocket native Peter Kelleher lost his son, Travis, in a 2016 drug overdose in Bangor, and since then has been working to help those who live on the streets.
“It’s just my mission to help people,” Kelleher said Wednesday standing in the kitchen at the Hope House, a shelter for those with drug and alcohol issues. “As everybody, or most people know, I lost a son to opiates. I couldn’t save his life. I got that phone call I knew I was going to get.”
Kelleher started making soup for homeless people after his son’s death. The Massachusetts resident is now known as “The Soupman” and was in Maine handing out backpacks filled with basic items, and buying boots for those who live on the streets.
“It’s great. He came in on a day our lobby is packed full of people and passed out some needed warm clothes, gloves, toiletries, that type of stuff,” said Boyd Kronholm, Bangor Area Homeless Shelter executive director. “It’s really super that he comes all the way around — up the state and back down again — helping out the homeless.”
“It’s absolutely an extension of our mission,” he added later.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” is how Shaw House case manager Suzanne Flood reacted when Kelleher stopped his big red bus outside the teen shelter’s side door.
Danielle Webb, a Bangor area transient, was on the bus.
“I think he’s pretty great and I think what they’re doing in pretty awesome,” Webb said. “A lot of people could use it this year.”
Webb was one of four locals picked up by The Soupman for a trip to Walmart to get a new boots, her first new pair in around five years.
After leaving the shelter, the bus made its way to the Union Street Brick Church.
Peter Kelleher lost an adult son to drug addiction during 2016 in Bangor. While grieving, he began making soup and giving it away to homeless people … just like his son.
That is how “The Soupman” was born.
On this trip to Maine, he’s not making soup, he’s giving out backpacks filled with toiletries, gloves, hats and hand warmers. And he’s working on adding a portable shower for people in Bangor.
“This just started going and I couldn’t stop it,” he said Monday by phone, just before entering Maine. “Why would I want to stop it. We’re helping hundreds of people. And it’s just that simple: People helping people.”
Kelleher has already raised around $10,000 towards the $50,000 cost of the portable shower. His organization just installed one in Brockton, Mass. and has the goal of installing one in every major city in New England.
The Soupman hit Biddeford to give out backpacks on Monday and will make his way north. He is scheduled to arrive in Bangor on Wednesday and then will go to his hometown of Millinocket on Friday.
Those interested in finding out more can go to the: Support the Soupman Facebook page.
Reporter
nricker@wvii.com
Nit-Noi Ricker is an Army brat who grew up on a farm in Winterport. She went to the University of Maine and the University of Northern Texas to learn how to be a journalist and started her career in Arizona at the Williams-Grand Canyon News, …
Kelleher travels from city to city, serving meals to the homeless, along with handing out gloves, hats, coats and other items. But he’s famous for his soup.
“I love helping people,” Kelleher said. “I’m gonna die doing it, and I’m not going anywhere soon.”
A year ago, Kelleher started the nonprofit Support the Soupman. His latest project involves purchasing portable shower trailers for the homeless.
Kelleher began helping the homeless after his son, Travis, died of an overdose years ago. For him, it was a way for him to ease the pain.
“He was such a good kid and fun to be with, when he wasn’t using,” Kelleher said. “He carried the demon. I loved him so much. I give back to the homeless because my son was on the streets, and he didn’t need to be.”
Each portable shower Kelleher buys costs about $50,000. He hopes sales from his famous soup, among other things, will help fund many more.
“My goal is to have salad dressings, sauces, the whole nine yards,” Kelleher said. “Look what (Paul) Newman did with the salad dressing. My last name isn’t Newman, but I’m telling you, we can put a shower in every major city and state in New England.”
The Soup Man, also known as Peter Kelleher of Bridgewater, delivers homemade soup and care packages of clothing, winter items and toiletries to homeless people each weekend. He does this in memory of his son, Travis, who was homeless and died of a drug overdose, at age 32, in 2016.
BRIDGEWATER – Charlotte Stevens saw homeless people huddled on the roadside as she drove through Brockton, and thought of her brother.
Arthur “Joey” Myatt III, Stevens’ brother, had been homeless, abused alcohol and drugs and died in 2014 when he was trying to cross the street, intoxicated, and was struck by a car.
“The family tried everything to help Joey over the years,” Stevens said. “But as you probably know, addiction can be a black hole.”
Stevens knew she wanted to help people in her brother’s memory. So she picked up her crochet needles and began to creates scarves and hats. Wanting to donate them to homeless people in Brockton, she searched online for the proper avenue when she came across an article about a “Soup Man.” The Soup Man, also known as Peter Kelleher of Bridgewater, delivers homemade soup and care packages of clothing, winter items and toiletries to homeless people in Brockton each weekend. He does this in memory of his son, Travis Kelleher, who was homeless and died of a drug overdose, at 32, in 2016.
Touched by his story, Stevens frequently drops off her crocheted items to the Soup Man.
She is not alone. Hundreds of others, both locally and across the country, have read the Soup Man’s and reached out to him. Kelleher’s one man show has quickly become a project with dozens of helpers — and it continues to grow.
Peter Kelleher returned to Bangor on Wednesday to make something of the grief he’s felt ever since his son died of a drug overdose here two-and-a-half years ago.
All morning, Kelleher, a Millinocket native who now lives in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, drove around downtown Bangor in a red school bus, stopping at various places to donate backpacks filled with toiletries and other supplies to the poor and homeless.
Despite the snow that was falling, he left about 75 backpacks at the Hope House and 50 at the Bangor Area Homeless Shelter. He dropped some more off at the Union Street Brick Church before going to purchase winter boots to distribute.
Each pack contained toothpaste, chapstick and other essentials. Many also contained menstrual products, which are costly — often unaffordable for those with limited means. Kelleher also planned to hand out backpacks to any other homeless people he spotted while driving through Bangor.
