(This article originally appeared in the special publication 30 Years of Meeting Needs and Offering Hope commemorating the 30th anniversary  of St. Vincent de Paul Middletown. Reprinted with permission.)

Our five-foot-two cheerful cook balances on a chair as she writes the menu of the day on the chalkboard: Sicilian style pasta, Grandma’s green beans, apple crisp surprise.

“You have to spice it up a bit,”Amanda (Mandy) Carrier smiles with her dark brown eyes shining. “People are more interested if you say more than just pasta and green beans. They come in and say,‘Oh, Grandma’s Green Beans, I’ll have some of those.’”

Mandy brings her passion and inventiveness to St. Vincent’s Soup Kitchen adding spices and secret ingredients to tasty gumbos and turning plain potatoes into delectable dishes for the 150 or so guests who eat in our dining room each day.

“I really enjoy working here,”Mandy smiles. “It’s different everyday.”She worked in a food chain restaurant after culinary training and had little opportunity to create. “Here, I try to have a menu, but in the growing season it can change depending on what walks through the door. I have to dig out the cookbooks.”

Last summer, after a farmer brought a carload of zucchini three days in a row, Mandy rose to the challenge and didn’t let any of it go to waste.“We had sautéed zucchini, stuffed zucchini, zucchini in lasagna, and apple crisp with zucchini!”

[Dressed] in a chef’s uniform and baker’s cap, the twenty-five-year-old with multiple-pierced earlobes is a former Girl Scout, college and culinary school graduate, snow skier…and a candidate for the sisterhood.

Seasoning for the Sisterhood

How long has this vivacious, young woman known she was destined for the sisterhood? “There was no pin point in time when I decided,”she said, as a matter of fact.“I grew into it, really, over the past six or seven years.”

Raised in Granby, Connecticut by Catholic parents, Mandy attended Northwest Catholic High School. “We went to mass regularly and my father was a deacon.”

After high school, Mandy attended the University of Dayton in Ohio. “I first studied to be an engineer, and then began thinking of religious studies.” She attended a student-run group on campus that held praise and worship services.

“I joined a discerning group for people my age. When I was a freshman, I called my sister and said, “What do you think Mom and Dad would say if I became a nun?” They wanted grandkids. My sister said,“Just tell them. Rip the Band-Aid™ off.” My father was happy, my mother questioned me a lot.”

Mandy began systematically researching various orders around the country she found on-line and through packets mailed to her. “I had a two page list and crossed orders off (as they didn’t apply). Some were only for teaching, some for only healthcare. Some were cloistered (single-mission), and some were monastic (a lot more structured in their daily life). I was looking for more apostolic or working out in the world, a mixture of contemplation and action.”

During junior and senior year at college, Mandy worked in the catering department at the school. In her senior year, she decided she wanted to go to a culinary school. Around this time, she found the Sisters of Mercy on-line and in Vision Magazine.

“They are apostolic with more choices. They operate on mutual discernment. They don’t just tell you what to do or where to go, but offer you opportunities.  It felt right.”she said.

Mandy connected with Sister Elaine Deasy, a vocation minister at the Sisters of Mercy in West Hartford, Connecticut, and then enrolled in culinary school at Manchester Community College. She became a candidate (“not a postulate, that’s an old term”) for the Sisters of Mercy, and mentee of Sister Elaine. Sister Elaine, a former SVD Board member, introduced Mandy to our kitchen as an intern while she was finishing up her culinary program in May 2009.

“I knew immediately Mandy would be a good fit,”explained Sister Elaine. “She has a wonderful sense of presence, loves the culinary arts, and wants to serve.” The Sisters of Mercy take a vow of service to the poor, the sick, and uneducated. “With her natural skills, her personality and enthusiasm, and really strong work ethic—she has maturi- ty beyond her years. We are very blessed to have her among us.”

Mandy became a member of the staff in May 2010. She moved into a family-style house with two older sisters in August where she will live until she goes to Texas in 2012 for her novitiate (intensive study, serious discernment, and ministry work).

In the meantime, Mandy will continue cooking and working with people who come in the kitchen for court-man- dated community service at St.Vincent’s.

“I am new to this ministry.  I don’t have a background in Human Services, but I am kind of growing into it. People talk to me about their lives and ask me about mine. I definitely have a feeling I have been called here.”

Tanja Moriarty is the development coordinator at St. Vincent de Paul Middletown. www.svdmiddletown.org