“When I first drove across the bridge to Bailey Island, I thought ‘This is where I belong’,” recalls Peg Orlando who moved to Maine full time in 2012. She says that her friends back in Andover, Massachusetts, where she served as the drama teacher for a middle school, couldn’t believe that she was moving to an island in Maine.

This kind-hearted go-getter got quickly involved in lifting the lives of the community. She joined the Islands Community Church on Bailey Island and volunteered for the Outreach Committee. She became a member of Harpswell Aging at Home, an organization that helps people stay in their home as long as possible; she now serves as a member of the Food Committee, the Steering Committee and the Executive Committee. She’s a volunteer at the Growstown, a restored 1849 school house in Brunswick, where she plays one of the “Miss Frosts,” who teaches school children from surrounding towns what school was like in the mid-1800s. She’s a member of the King’s Daughters of Harpswell, a group of women dedicated to awarding scholarships to two high school seniors from Harpswell every year. And she’s a member of the Knit Wits, a convivial group of avid knitters, which meets weekly and donates the proceeds of their prodigious output to good causes locally and around the world.

Delivering soup to people in the community who could use a helping hand is one of Peg’s biggest passions. A few years ago she learned that Charlene Tuplin, who at the time was delivering soup by car to paying customers, was looking for a way to provide surplus soup to people in need. Today, Charlene runs the popular “Run with Soup” cafe in Bath, but she generously donates over 200 quarts of surplus soup a year to the Outreach Committee of the Islands Community Church. Peg picks up the soup from the Cafe and delivers it to 14 families every two weeks. In addition to receiving two quarts of nutritious soup, the families get a good dose of Peg’s warmth and good cheer, as she spends time with many of them.

In explaining why she delivers soup, Peg says simply, “After all the gifts I’ve received, it’s a small way to give back.”

Charlene Tuplin is glad to serve as the soup provider. Because of the heavy time demands of running the Cafe —she cooks all the food, which includes sandwiches and baked goods as well as soups — Charlene is delighted to have someone deliver the left-over soup. “I grew up in a foster home, and I’m a single mother, so I know what it’s like not to have a lot,” she explains. “It makes me feel good to provide healthy nutritious meals to people.” Incidentally, Charlene donates soup to other organizations in addition to the Islands Community Church.

Soup is a good comfort food, especially as winter approaches on an island in Maine or, for the matter, anywhere. It’s also comforting to know that there are good people around like Charlene Tuplin to cook it and Peg Orlando to deliver it.

David Treadwell, a Brunswick writer, welcomes commentary and suggestions for future “Just a Little Old” columns. [email protected].