Located at Community Resource Center

3rd & Boulevard

 Idaho Falls, Idaho 83401

Trinity is committed to serve at the Soup (and much more) Kitchen

on the 1st & 3rd Mondays of each month at 11:30 am.

 

The Christian Soup Kitchen, a vision of two women members of St. Mark's Episcopal Church to provide a meal to the needy on weekends, has grown from serving meals from a hot plate on weekends to fully equipped kitchen serving full, well balanced, hot meals, five days a week. The ministry, started in 1985, has developed significantly, the capabilities have expanded to fill the demand, and the resources available have grown to meet the needs. Serving meals Saturday through Wednesday to anyone in need, including: the homeless, transients, unemployed, low income, handicapped, elderly, and young families. No questions are asked. no referrals are needed, and religious views are never fostered. The mission of the Kitchen is to provide a sanctuary where fellowship is nurtured and a hot nourishing meal is served in an environment of respect and dignity.

 

 

Beyond the obvious need of feeding the hungry, the Sandwich Kitchen also ministers to another very important need in our community. Fulfilling their desire and need to serve God and their fellow man are volunteers from thirteen churches as well as several individual volunteers from the community at large. Teams of volunteers prepare and serve meals, do the clean-up, and prepare sandwiches for sack lunches while others stock the shelves, pick up donations, maintain the administrative duties, and attend to the overall coordination of Kitchen operations.

 

Statistically, the efforts of the co-founders of the Christian Sandwich Kitchen to feed the hungry have been an overwhelming success. During the first eighteen months of operation, starting in June of 1985, the Kitchen fed 1805 guests (an average of eleven people per day).

 

In the last three years the kitchen has averaged approximately 18,000 guests each year (an average of seventy people per day).  About 60% of our guests attend on a regular basis, using the Kitchen to supplement minimum wage incomes, unemployment, Social Security, or other forms of aided income.  Transient, migrant, and the homeless make up the remaining 40% and often stay for only a week or less before moving on.  Of all our guests, approximately 20% are children of which 90% are under ten year old.

 

To make all this possible, the Christian Sandwich Kitchen depends mainly on the generous support of people within the community.  Individual as well as monthly donations make up a large portion of the total financial income but other sources include grants from area businesses, contributions from community churches, pledges from the Combined Federal Campaign, a small federal grant, proceeds from fund raisers from many local civic organizations, and donations from area Boy Scouts and Mail Handlers food drives.  Being its sponsor, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church donates its utility and facility needs and provides the Kitchen’s overall management structure.

 

Anyone wishing to be apart of this ministry or wanting to learn more can contact:

 

Marilyn Sanow at 529-1642

 

Or you can provide support financially by mailing your contribution to:

 

The Christian Sandwich Kitchen,

% St. Mark’s Episcopal Church

101 4th Street

Idaho Falls, Idaho 83401