This Friday, Living Bread Soup Kitchen invites the public to celebrate its 15th anniversary and also check out its brand new digs.
The soup kitchen plans to hold a ribbon cutting and open house at its new address, 321 South Maple Street, “right behind the library,” in the words of director Gina Gaylor.
The event will be held Friday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., with a ribbon-cutting held by the Somerset-Pulaski Chamber of Commerce around noon.
The public will be provided with refreshments and will have the opportunity to tour the facility.
However, “It's not that big of a place.'' Gaylor joked. “Basically, he has two rooms, one upstairs and one downstairs.”
The volunteer group spends two days a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays cooking and distributing approximately 300 free meals to those in need.
Gaylor said the meals will be served “no questions asked.” Some of your guests may be homeless or just need a little help supporting their families.
Gaylor said some of the meals will also be sent to community recovery centers.
The organization also runs a food box giveaway once a month, distributing non-perishable food items.
The group has been around for 15 years and has opened stores in different regions. Unfortunately, they were forced to move last year as their home until March 2023 was at Cornerstone Baptist Church, the same church building that was damaged by fire.
When church members began renting the building as temporary housing during renovations, the church decided to move Living Bread along with it, Gaylor said.
She said Cornerstone has been very accommodating to the soup kitchen, allowing them to use the equipment in the rented building and not charging them rent in return.
However, when the restoration of the sanctuary of the old Cornerstone building was completed, the congregation decided to return to the building. However, the Living Bread could no longer remain there as the rest of the building was not repaired and the church was forced to leave the space it was renting. There.
“They (Cornerstone) wanted us to go with them, but they didn't have a place to put us,” Gaylor said. “So, we just started looking for a place, and the pastor of South Maple Street Baptist Church offered us this building. They had just bought it a while ago and didn't really have a use for it.”
South Maple Street Baptist began upgrading and renovating many parts of the building, and Living Bread began raising funds to equip it with necessary equipment for its operations, including a three-compartment sink and an exhaust hood for its stove. .
“We have to be close to restaurants. We don't have to be that particular, but the guidelines are pretty much the same,” Gaylor said.
Gaylor said the soup kitchen is now back in its building in downtown Somerset, where it's free to use.
It's also the first time they've set up a building solely for their own use, rather than a room connected to a larger facility.
“We've always had to share the same space, so of course I appreciated that. But this is the first time it's just us, so it's really special for us,” she said. Told.
She added that Cornerstone still supports the organization financially.
But I can't help but think back to the alarming days immediately after the fire. At the time, organizations were faced with the problem of how to operate without space.
But that doesn't stop Gaylor saying he's not worried they'll be forced to end their mission.
“The only thing I knew was that it might be postponed,” she said. “We were surprised that we were back up and running within two weeks, but that was thanks to the church (Cornerstone) stepping up and finding us another temporary location.”
She added: “We started from scratch and said, 'We're just going to do what we can and cook what we can with what we've got.'” If I have to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, I'll do it. ”
Gaylor said she had never thought of the situation in that light, but it's similar to what many of the people they serve are facing.
For those who would like to help, Living Bread Soup Kitchen is accepting donations through PayPal or the mailing address: PO Box 382, Ferguson, Kentucky, 42533, Gaylor said.
The company also holds food drives with business partners and accepts donations of non-perishable food.
Of course, people are welcome to come to the new home on South Maple Street and drop off donations, she said.
