Crisis in the kitchen
Ministry to close soup kitchen on Fridays, creating possible crunch at another facility
Crisis Ministries, worried about the potential for a financially strained 2009, has decided to close its soup kitchen on Fridays, at least through January.
Brad Nettles
The Post and Courier
Sister Pat Keating talks to Benjamin Gethers as he cleans the dining room of the Neighborhood House. The soup kitchen is one of two downtown.
The change was made to reduce costs in case the weak economy results in a budget crunch, communications director Leigh Danley said. The move affects the downtown Charleston soup kitchen, which typically serves 200 people a day, a roughly 30 percent increase from 2007. Services for guests at the Meeting Street shelter will not be affected, she said.
The decision to serve the public six days a week instead of seven has some members of the community worried.
Sister Pat Keating, who runs the Neighborhood House on the East Side, a soup kitchen sponsored by Our Lady of Mercy Community Outreach Services, said it was already difficult to manage the increase in people needing food without an influx of even more seeking help.
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Keating said her program serves as many as 150 people a day, Monday through Friday. The staff is trying to figure out how the dining room at 77 America St. can accommodate more seating.
When Crisis Ministries closed its soup kitchen for one day a month ago, the staff at Neighborhood House was caught unawares by the spike in visitors, Keating said.
Concerned that the shelter's new soup kitchen schedule could become status quo for 2009, Keating hopes to work out an arrangement with Crisis Ministries. "Maybe we can figure out something," she said.
Brad Nettles
The Post and Courier
Benjamin Gethers cleans the dining room of the Neighborhood House on Monday after 131 people were served lunch. The Neighborhood House could see an influx of visitors when the Crisis Ministries soup kitchen closes on Fridays.
Most users of the Neighborhood House soup kitchen are residents on the East Side, she said. Others are homeless and transient people.
When the line gets long, or when new people show up, some regular visitors get nervous, Keating said. They worry the food will run out, though it never does.
"Some people are already on a thin string with their patience," she said, so staff members work hard to keep people calm. While the food pantry occasionally runs low, the soup kitchen so far has managed to feed everyone who comes in, Keating said. "We try not to turn anybody away."
The Neighborhood House and Crisis Ministries operate the only soup kitchens in the downtown area.
Danley said the belt-tightening at Crisis Ministries is precautionary, and that staff will re-evaluate its budget and soup kitchen operation at the end of the month.
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Comments
This article has 4 comment(s)
Posted by lantanagurl on January 6, 2009 at 8:40 a.m. (Suggest removal)
"Concerned that the shelter's new soup kitchen schedule could become status quo for 2009, Keating hopes to work out an arrangement with Crisis Ministries. "Maybe we can figure out something," she said." My opinion: With the amount of churches downtown there should be absolutley no problem with feeding people if each member donated just one item a week, for instance, the pantries could be filled. I think it's far past time that we all work together instead of acting like we are separate churches. It is the BODY that is the church and not the buildings and we would do well to remember that.
Posted by eyfigueroa on January 6, 2009 at 9:33 a.m. (Suggest removal)
latana: You have brought up a very valid point regarding how churches these days don't seem to live up to the directives set for by the early church of Jesus' time.
Of working together to serve ALL men.
There should be NO reason why a soup kitchen cannot be manned 7 days a week.
The 'Holy City' has enough churches, synagogues and mosques and members that if resources were pooled there would be no hunger throughout the Tri-County region.
There would be no need to rely on government.
There would be no need to shut down soup kitchens.
Posted by wjhamilton3 on January 6, 2009 at 10:03 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Local Churches already provide a huge amount of support for the Soup Kitchen and Shelter, in a big, coordinated effort that goes back over twenty years. However, ultimately that much volunteer effort and donations requires professional supervision and management and cash to cover overhead.
We're not talking about making Hot Dogs for twenty here. I've volunteered at the Shelter and feeding 200+ people is a big job. That is about 15 gallon cans of baked beans, 400 buns and dogs, 15 cans of fruit salad and something else to fill out the meal.
If you want to do something more complicated, that's even more planning. There is an industrial kitchen available, but just boiling three to five gallons of water is a big project, taking over twenty minutes. It's not like cooking at home.
In a pinch, you can get it done for about 500 dollars with something like 15 man hours of labor. Breakfast is cheaper (thank goodness for Grits and oatmeal).
Huge amounts of charity are going out of local Churches, scouting organizations, schools and community groups. Many of these organizations are now also helping keep their own members out of the shelter. At some point, we're going to max out the amount of private charity available.
ECCO and the Food Bank have a lot of food warehoused right now due to the holiday giving, but they rant through it much faster last year and had empty shelves by July.
Posted by watney on January 6, 2009 at 10:57 a.m. (Suggest removal)
How about monitoring or helping to better the job hunting efforts of those in soup kitchen lines everyday. I have been a volunteer at more than one soup kitchen and food bank for several years now and I continuously see the same (apparently able bodied and mentally fit people)in the lines. I have also had several people complain about the food being offered and cooked by the volunteers who have willingly given their time and often money and food donations to feed these people in need. I am not trying to be calous here-- there are far too many people out there who truly NEED these services and truly APRECCIATE these services and for one reason or another cannot work. On the other hand there is a minor portion of the people who should be seeking employment of any kind and should be thankful to those of us who like to help them out.