HSK’s mission is to help relieve hunger in our community. We accomplish this through three basic activities.
First and foremost, we provide meals and outreach services for the hungry. The Soup Kitchen is open from 7:30am until 1:30pm Monday through Friday for our guests. Each morning our staff and volunteers prepare fresh food in our kitchen with the highest quality and care! Last year, our volunteers worked over 15,000 hours to help accomplish this task. We serve an average of ... Read More
HSK’s mission is to help relieve hunger in our community. We accomplish this through three basic activities.
First and foremost, we provide meals and outreach services for the hungry. The Soup Kitchen is open from 7:30am until 1:30pm Monday through Friday for our guests. Each morning our staff and volunteers prepare fresh food in our kitchen with the highest quality and care! Last year, our volunteers worked over 15,000 hours to help accomplish this task. We serve an average of 235 individuals per day for a total of over 74,000 meals last year. In addition, our outreach program provided 3,600 bags of groceries that were given out from our food pantry to 150 families during 2017.
It is important to note that this part of HSK’s mission is about more than just food. Many citizens of Hickory and Catawba County living at or below the poverty line and who are striving each day to continue working towards achieving a better future, depend on agencies like the Hickory Soup Kitchen. When HSK provides food to our guests it enables them to use the money saved for other critical needs such as heat in the winter, fuel for transportation to work, and childcare. The cost to our community fiscally and morally would be many times greater without the efficient use of food donations, and services by HSK. Our hope is that working families who receive our services will be able to bridge the gap caused by food insecurity.
A second aspect of our services is our hygiene program which serves an average of 450 individuals monthly. Our private showers accommodate homeless guests with a safe and secure place to take care of their grooming needs. It provides a fresh, clean start to their day, which can really have an impact on our guests’ self-esteem and health. This is especially important to our guests who have jobs and need to report to work clean and ready to work.
Finally, along with assistance provided inside the Soup Kitchen, we also help supply many other agencies throughout Catawba County with food supplies which we receive and re-distribute. These agencies include Safe Harbor Rescue Mission’s New Day Center, Greater Hickory Cooperative Christian Ministries, Salvation Army Shelter of Hope, Catawba County Children's Advocacy, ALFA, House of Hope, DAV Homeless Veterans Stand Down, and Saint Luke's Latino Ministry.
In conjunction with these three core services, we also help our guests with access to our lending library, Greenway transportation bus passes, and assistance in locating other emergency providers in our area. Last year, we even collaborated with the Western Piedmont Symphony on a program that allowed our guests to attend a concert free of charge following an evening meal at the Soup Kitchen.
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