Fulton Soup Kitchen has seen need triple

Julie Murphy and Nick Russell of Southside Baptist Church prepare to hand out burgers and hot dogs at the Fulton Soup Kitchen on Thursday. About 200 volunteers like them gave out more than 13,000 meals in 2012, up exponentially from just two years before.
Julie Murphy and Nick Russell of Southside Baptist Church prepare to hand out burgers and hot dogs at the Fulton Soup Kitchen on Thursday. About 200 volunteers like them gave out more than 13,000 meals in 2012, up exponentially from just two years before.

FULTON, Mo. - Their dining room is open only one hour a day, four days a week, but the Fulton Soup Kitchen might be the most popular eatery in Callaway County.

Last year, the kitchen saw its attendance rise to serve about 3 1/2 times the number of meals it gave out in 2010. The kitchen served 13,000 meals in 2012, compared with about 3,700 two years before.

Taking out the approximately 1,200 meals served at special events including last year's Back to School Fair, that means the kitchen's 200 rotating volunteers served about 57 people from 5-6 p.m. every Monday through Thursday at the John C. Harris Community Center.

"I think it will wind up being more (this year)," said Anne Erbschloe, Soup Kitchen president. "They say the economy is getting better, and maybe for some people it is, but some of these people are already in a middle income bracket and not the people that are poor, and I don't think it's getting better for them."

Erbschloe noted not all is bleak, however. The Soup Kitchen still has plenty of food to feed all of those mouths: It operates on donations received from private individuals and businesses such as Arris Pizza, as well as organizations including the Food Bank of Central and Northeast Missouri and Fresh Ideas Food Service, which provides food for Westminster College.

The numbers are also higher there because unlike many soup kitchens that meet just once or twice a week at various churches or locations, Fulton's kitchen has a regular schedule and meeting place: 5-6 p.m. Monday through Thursday at the John C. Harris Community Center.

"We're in really good shape. The freezers and shelves are full of stuff. Lately, they've had meat at the food bank - they don't have a lot of that, but periodically they do - so we have meat in the freezer that volunteers can use with pasta, rice and things like that. They can go in and pick out stuff to make a complete meal."

For example, Thursday's 5 p.m. dinner, which was prepared by volunteers from Southside Baptist Church, included hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, fruit and chips.

There are also no income requirements; anyone who needs a free meal is welcome any time. If there is enough food to go around, people are also allowed second helpings and take-home portions at the end of the dinner.

"That's one of the reasons we don't go for government subsidies," Erbschloe said. "I don't want to have to ask people for information about their income and this or that. The only thing I want to ask them is, "Are you hungry?'"