(CNN)On a recent afternoon in Montevideo, a small army of volunteers was gathering in the backyard of a house in Palermo, a neighborhood in the Uruguayan capital's south side. Some were peeling and cutting carrots; others were slicing onions and a third group was getting the pork loins ready. There was yet another group bringing in spices, salt, cooking oil and pots...many pots. There was no time to waste. Their mission was to prepare hundreds of hot meals by dinner time.

This is Uruguay's version of a soup kitchen during the pandemic. Here they call it the "people's pot." Nobody gets paid for their work. Most of the food is donated. And the house where these volunteers were preparing the feast is borrowed. On this particular day they were cooking pork; but the menu varies depending on what ingredients they can get on any given day. Their mission is simple: feeding those who have fallen on hard times during the Covid-19 pandemic, although others are welcome too.