Abundant Life Soup Kitchen Supplies

The Abundant Life Soup Kitchen began in 1995 in the basement of St. George's Episcopal Church. In 2010, the soup kitchen was requested to leave St. George's and was required to find another home. Rising Star Baptist Church graciously welcomed the soup kitchen, but the move required significant renovations and equipment upgrades. An entire storage building was built and walk in freezer and cooler were installed. The residential four burner electric stove was replaced with a commercial grade six-top stove and oven. While the soup kitchen has been located in two churches, it is not affiliated with the church except for providing the location. The soup kitchen operates as an independent organization and is run by a Board of Directors comprised of members of many churches in and around Griffin. The goal of the soup kitchen is to provide a warm meal to the needy citizens of Griffin and Spalding County Monday through Thursday and a sack lunch on Friday. This is in line with the Rotary goal of alleviating poverty. Amazingly, food is abundantly available through the Atlanta Community Food Bank, other food banks and donations from individuals and local grocery stores. While the soup kitchen has slowly obtained the equipment to continue its service to our community, there is some equipment still needed, as well as products that are not available from food banks, such as paper bags, gloves, plastic bags, etc. This grant is proposed to provide the soup kitchen with the additional needed equipment and supplies so that it can continue in its mission.

On January 12, 2017, the following supplies were ordered from RestaurantSupply.com -- 10 lb. commercial countertop deep fryer, Robot Coupe Combination Cutter and Vegetable Slicer, basting brushes, pot holders, dish cloth, stainless steel chef's knives, aluminum 4-inch e channel adjustable shelving, oven mitts, vinyl disposable gloves and storage containers with lids. On February 10, 2017, Rotarians went to the local Wal-Mart store and purchased freezer bags, Reynolds aluminum foil, lunch bags, Dawn dish washing detergent, Tide detergent and storage bags. We spent $2772.53 with RestuarantSupply.com and $231.39 with Wal-mart for a total of $3003.92.