Local soup kitchen serves one millionth meal after 39 years of operation

IDAHO FALLS – The Idaho Falls Soup Kitchen gave away its millionth meal Thursday afternoon.

The recipient was a man named Robert who’s benefited from the nonprofit’s services since about 2009.

Volunteer Tim Sopalski tells EastIdahoNews.com Robert showed up about 20 minutes before they started serving. He kept asking when lunch was ready and the crew decided he would be first in line.

“It feels great, man,” Robert says of being the one-millionth meal recipient. “These guys always cook good food.”

In total, 171 patrons were served Thursday. A team of volunteers provided mashed potatoes and gravy, ham, green bean casserole and rolls.

Serenah Hamlin, the soup kitchen’s executive director, tells EastIdahoNews.com it’s because of the volunteers and the generosity of the community that a millionth meal is even happening.

“We have so many volunteers who come here every single day to serve lunch every single day of the year. We have several different church groups, neighborhood groups, medical groups, bank groups. Basically, everyone in the community has contributed to the serving of the millionth meal,” says Hamlin.

The soup kitchen serves an average of about 115 meals daily. Hamlin says there was a 20% uptick in people who needed the service during the COVID-19 pandemic. There were several reasons for that, including job loss, cost of living increases and a surge in food and gas prices.

Those numbers have since leveled off a bit, but Hamlin says the soup kitchen serves a variety of people and there is an ongoing need for its services in the community.

“We have people from addictive backgrounds, we have some veterans and people who are homeless due to the COVID situation. We have a family that became homeless during that time and they come eat with us now,” she says.

The soup kitchen at 301 South Boulevard got started down the street from its current location in the basement of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church. Cher Stone and several other ladies started serving soup and sandwiches in a closet size room in 1985.

Though she’s no longer a member of the soup kitchen’s board, she’s still involved in taking care of the building where the soup kitchen is housed. Stone was present for the serving of the one-millionth meal and recalled how far it’s come since that first day.

“We didn’t serve hot meals because we didn’t have a kitchen. All we had was a coffee pot,” Stone says. “We served peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, a banana, milk and coffee. That was the most nutritious meal we could think of to serve as a cold lunch.”

One guy who lived down the street came to eat lunch that day because he thought the ladies were opening a cafe.

“He was our only client,” Stone recalls with laughter. “It didn’t take long before we had 50 to 100 people.”

It moved to its current location in 2004, which made a huge difference in its ability to serve people.

It’s gratifying to Stone to know that it’s now been in operation for 39 years and provided more than a million meals.

“It’s so nice that we have this service but it’s also so sad that we have to have this service. We would like to work ourselves out of business but (we’re always happy to serve those in need),” she says.

Robert is grateful for all the volunteers who have served him lunch over the years.

Those who would like to volunteer, make a donation or learn more can reach out here or call (208) 557-5750.