The Guild of St. Margaret Soup Kitchen is an outreach program of Grace Episcopal Church which has operated continuously at Grace Church since June of 1980. The program began as a small group of church members serving sandwiches in our lobby and has expanded to include more than 700 active trained community members who together give more than 20,000 hours to operate a community soup kitchen serving more than 40,000 meals every year. Aside from serving meals, the soup kitchen serves as a gateway to other social service agencies, faith-based programs and non-profits working to assist those in need.
The Guild of St. Margaret serves as the only daily feeding program in western Orange County with volunteers from all over Orange County and as far away as Pennsylvania and Sullivan county. Some volunteers come in nearly every day, some once a week, once a month, or once a year. Some people volunteer once and some have been volunteering for more than 25 years. Although this is an outreach program of Grace Church, it has grown into a true community project, with more than 95% of the volunteers coming from outside the church. The one thing all of our volunteers have in common is their desire to help others and their willingness to help in any way they can, and they are the lifeblood of our program and best volunteers anywhere!
Several auxiliary groups from other community programs (Inspire, HRC and Independent Living are a few) have been added to our regular volunteer groups. Each group has between 4 and 20 members and comes in one or two days a week to help out in whatever way their members are able, whether rolling silverware, arranging flowers for tables, or helping to clean up from meals. This opportunity to connect with our program staff and volunteers, to contribute meaningfully in the community and to build employment skills is helping all of our programs and communities.
Ultimately, It is our vision and goal to offer healthy, nutritious meals, health information and education to improve the lives of our guests in a safe environment which encourages community and social participations for every guest, volunteer, staff member and visitor with no regard to religious, political, educational or social background and respects the human dignity of all lives.
We are supported financially by Grace Church, Episcopal Charites, other foundations like the Dyson Foundation and the Community Foundation of Orange and Sullivan, donations and grants from individuals, businesses, fraternal organizations, and other religious organizations, the Hunger Prevention and Nutrition Assistance Program, and other local, state and federal grants.
