Idaho Falls Soup Kitchen returning to in-person service
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The following is a news release from the Idaho Falls Soup Kitchen.
IDAHO FALLS — After over two years of serving the hungry in the Idaho Falls community with to-go lunches with volunteer teams as small as two or three people, the Idaho Falls Soup Kitchen is excited to announce a return to in-person service on Sunday, May 1.
Much has changed at the Soup Kitchen over those two years, including becoming a stand-alone organization with a designated Executive Director. Jessica Sharp will lead the organization back into in-person service, a daunting task but one that Sharp, with five years of experience running the Summer Food Service Program, is more than ready for… with community help.
“There are a ton of things we need to do to get ready,” she remarks. “Our volunteer teams are small, but we’ve had a lot of interest in volunteering. What we really need is donations so we can be prepared for all of our incoming maintenance costs.”
More urgently, the Soup Kitchen is bracing for an impact on the building itself, which hasn’t been seeing lunchtime crowds. The Soup Kitchen staff and Board of Directors anticipates some 150 people using the facilities every day. They’ve been supported by volunteers who offer up cleaning and maintenance services, but still need community help in the form of donations. Although any individual donation is deeply needed, the most impactful gifts are recurring monthly gifts, which are possible through Paypal. The Soup Kitchen will be participating in Idaho Gives at the beginning of May and hopes to brace for repair costs with the help of the community.
Started in 1985, the Soup Kitchen was a vision of two members of the Episcopal Church that provided a noon time meal to the needy on weekends. From those humble beginnings, today the Soup Kitchen is blessed with dedicated and trained teams of volunteers for every day of the year. The mission of the Soup Kitchen has grown to where it is now open seven days a week and serves over 55,000 meals a year. For more information about the Soup Kitchen, and to donate, visit ifsoupkitchen.org, or follow the organization on Facebook and Instagram at IFSoupKitchen.