Murray's nearly-three-month-old soup kitchen, Soup for the Soul, is preparing for a community-wide yard sale to raise funds for a new equipment.
Co-founder Debbi Smith spoke to Kate Lochte on WKMS' Sounds Good to talk about how the kitchen has grown since opening and the goals they're still looking to accomplish.
The Murray Board of Realtors is providing space for the yard sale Saturday, August 22 from 7am until 1pm in the Global Mortgage parking lot located at 111 N 12th street. Donations from the community are being accepted at the Graves Property building Thurs, Aug 20 from 9am-5pm, Friday from 9am-6pm or Saturday morning before the sale starts at 7am. And there's no limitation to the type of item that can be donated.
"You can bring anything you like: clothing, furniture, anything you would typically see in a yard sale," said Smith. "I’m sure what we don’t sell we will take to Angel’s Attic. But we’re hoping for a good turnout on our yard sale."
The proceeds will go towards Soup for the Soul's purchase of a large 10x10 walk-in freezer to store larger amounts of donated foods.
“It’s a very expensive piece of equipment, but we do need it because we’ve been promised pallets of frozen chicken, so we need somewhere to keep that," said Smith. "That would be a wonderful addition.
The kitchen opened in June after Smith and others began to notice a need in the community.
"For several years I’ve been helping my husband with Benevolence on Glendale Road, he'e is in charge of a clothing department," said Smith. "We began offering a bible study on Tuesday nights and a meal with that, and that grew from five people to forty. People were telling me that that was the only hot meal that we eat with their family per week. So I knew there was need in the community.
"In November of 2014, I put up on Facebook “Let’s have a soup kitchen in Murray, who’s with me?" Within in 24 hours I had over 200 people who was interested in helping me getting it going, and I knew with that kind of response, that I had to follow through with it.”
Smith says she spent several months of fundraising and organizing to buy almost $40,000 worth of equipment and secure the proper permits.
Smith says the kitchen was funded strictly through community donations and volunteer support.
"With government money there are rules you have to go by, we couldn't have prayer requests or pray before we have our meal," said Smith. "But I had never really done any fundraising, but everybody came together and helped so much that we raised at least $40,000."
The first week, Soup for the Soul averaged 20 people a day, now in its third month, the kitchen brings in about 50 people daily.
Smith says the kitchen currently serves a summer menu of sandwiches, salads and fruits in order to provide kids not yet in school a larger meal, but will begin cooking around the middle of next month.
“We are ready for that, and when we are cooking we will have a meat, a vegetable, starch, a bread, and desert every day, it won’t just be a small meal," said Smith.
Smith says that although the kitchen equipment is already paid for, donations are always welcome.
"For a donation of $10, a family of four can be fed one warm meal," said Smith. "I just think that’s an amazing use of $10."
Soup for the Soul feeds from 4 to 6 pm, Monday through Friday and is located at 411, Maple St. across from the Methodist Church.
