Tuesday marked a retirement of sorts for the longtime organizers of Merritt’s Soup Bowl.

Pam and Ernie Whitaker, who’ve organized the weekly soup lunch for about 15 years, handed over the reins on March 24 to a trio of volunteers.

Fellow Soup Bowl volunteers presented the Whitakers with a pressure cooker to acknowledge their dedication to feeding Merrittonians.

The couple said they had previously borrowed a friend’s pressure cooker to make their dinner while they’re out fishing in the summertime, and they are pleased now to have their own.

Though they’re not organizing it anymore, the Whitakers plan to continue to be regular fixtures at the Soup Bowl, only now, they eat and mingle with the other patrons.

“We can come after they set up, and we leave just before the cleanup,” Pam said with a smile.

“I’ll still come here, but the pressure’s off,” Ernie said.

The Whitakers have certainly put their time in as volunteers with the Soup Bowl, having organized it since 1999.

They started as regular volunteers for community dinners at the Civic Centre. The organizers of those dinners noticed a need for a regular weekly lunch, and the Soup Bowl was formed in the fall of 1997.

“We just kind of took it on gradually, and we found that we were very suited to it,” Pam said.

The Soup Bowl runs solely on volunteer power and donations.

Each week, as many as a hundred bowls of soup are served up to anybody who wants one.

The Whitakers said they’re looking forward to taking it easy, keeping their house up, and staying healthy. Pam also plans to get back to writing.

“I just want to be healthy so we can do the things we both enjoy doing,” Ernie said. “We both like fishing, and I’ll bomb up to Terrace to see my son once a year, things like that. The house itself could keep you busy.”

Pam said this retirement marks the end of an era.

“I feel a little bit like a teenager’s leaving home,” she said. “But I’m so confident in these wonderful people.”

The Soup Bowl will continue to run every Tuesday at the Anglican Church hall on Chapman Street from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

It’s open to anybody in the community and volunteers dish up homemade soup, coffee, muffins and bread.