Community Soup Kitchen

Outreach Center

The Community Soup Kitchen and Outreach Center builds relationships that encourage change, provide support and connect guests to the services that will help them define and realize their full potential.

The Outreach Center seeks to bring the providers of those services to the Community Soup Kitchen to outreach and provide services to our guests, while also building concrete collaborative relationships between our agency and other local organizations who offer services that have been difficult to connect our guests with in the past.

Current programs of the Outreach Center include: Employment Counseling Job Fair  English as a Second Language Classes Nursing Care and Consultation Health Screenings and HIV Testing Mental Health and Substance Abuse Outreach Social Service Advocacy Medicaid Assistance Housing Assistance

This past year was certainly one of the busiest.  The number of meals served increased by 11,500 for a total of 65,000 -- up 30% from last year. Outreach Center referrals surpassed 3,000 for the first time ever. The dramatic increase in referrals demonstrates the expanding role of the Outreach Center in our community.

With a generous grant provided by the Fannie E. Rippel Foundation, the Community Soup Kitchen and Outreach Center fired up a "Healthy Choices...Health Lives!" program.  We were able to hire Kathy Mikula as a part-time Healthy Choices Coordinator to work in conjunction with a volunteer dietician.  Kathy arranges for the rescue of fresh fruit and vegetables from area stores which are used to prepare healthier dishes.  The grant also covers the cost of healthier ingredients that are incorporated into our regular midday meals and are available for Soup Kitchen guests to take home.

Healthcare Heroes

Thanks to some local organizations that have come to the rescue, many Soup Kitchen guests who can not afford health care coverage are able to receive free services in our dining room.  We deeply appreciate the generosity of the congregational Health Nursing Clinic, Morristown Memorial Hospital, Hope House and Zufall Clinic who enabled us to offer our guests even more services in 2009.