Having expanded its homemade lunch takeout offerings to Mondays and Fridays, the Dilworth Soup Kitchen is now partnering with other community organizations and local restaurants to provide additional food several days a week for the homeless and needy. Additionally, the DSK is working to provide free lunches to Charlotte Mecklenburg students as well as to the maintenance people and health care providers at the Novant and Atrium hospitals.
“Our goal at the Dilworth Soup Kitchen is to feed the homeless and struggling families in additional ways during this pandemic,” said Tom Fedell, DSK president and board chairman. “We are also pleased to support our partnering restaurants by funding outsourced meals that help to sustain their employment and revenue base.
“Dilworth Soup Kitchen has never closed its doors in 11 years and we don’t plan to,“ Fedell added. “We continue to serve some of Charlotte’s most vulnerable amid the COVID-19 crisis. Our priority is to stay true to our mission of feeding the hungry. Due to the increasing demand, we have dramatically expanded our services.
Fedell thanked the numerous individuals and organizations that are providing support, donations and increased funding to the DSK during the pandemic. The Dilworth Community Association informed Dilworth residents in late April that it’s pledging to match up to $5,000 in contributions that are in support of the Dilworth Soup Kitchen’s efforts.
The DSK is now receiving support from the Quail Hollow and Carolina Golf Clubs. In addition to the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox church cooking meals one Monday a month, a few other local churches have expressed an interest in providing meals to address the increased needs.
Following are some of the expanded services being offered by the DSK as well as in conjunction with our new and continuing partners.
Broadening our services at Dilworth Soup Kitchen
We have changed our model from sit-down lunches to providing healthy takeout meals to better ensure the safety of all involved. We will return to in-house dining when it is deemed safe to do so.
Because of the tremendous increased need, we have added another day. We are now serving to go lunches every Monday and Friday.
Small bags of groceries are also being distributed to our guests as they pick up lunch. These include weekly donations from Trader Joe’s and Food Lion.
In addition to preparing lunches in our kitchen, we are purchasing lunches from local, struggling restaurants to help them generate much needed revenue during this pandemic.
We have purchased gift cards from Food Lion to distribute to our guests and other homeless groups. Food Lion has been one of our long-term partners and we felt it important to give back to them for their ongoing support.
“There are pockets of need throughout the Charlotte area,” Fedell said, “and we are privileged to be among the many committed organizations and individuals trying to fill the expanded needs within the Soup Kitchen and our partners during these trying times.”
Expanding our efforts with community partners
We have partnered with organizations that support the homeless (Watchman of the Streets & Block Love CLT). One hundred meal lunches funded by us were distributed to the homeless and prepared by local restaurants such as Sonny’s BBQ, a long-time supporter of ours.
We have also purchased a variety of canned goods to be distributed by Watchmen of the Streets directly to homeless camps.
We are purchasing proteins such as chicken and beef for meals served by the non-profit CommumityHub1245, which serve 6,000 meals a week to 300 families in North Charlotte.
We are also purchasing proteins for meals served by the non-profit Charlotte Community Kitchen, which serves 400 meals per week to the homeless and struggling families.
DSK has also distributed DSK prepared meals and outsourced restaurant meals directly to the homeless living in ‘Tent City’ in front of Urban Ministry and at The Wall in downtown Charlotte.
DSK is providing 50 meals every Friday to CMS to distribute to CMS students who don’t have transportation to CMS facilities serving lunch since schools have been closed. These lunches are distributed by CMS staff directly to the student’s homes.
DSK is providing 100 outsourced restaurant meals from Something Classic once a week during May to families in the Charlotte Housing Authority’s South Side Homes project.
DSK is funding the purchase of several restaurant meals to be distributed to the 100-plus janitorial staffs at Novant & Atrium Hospitals. These individuals are cleaning patient rooms and bathrooms and risk exposure to COVID-19 every day.
“This pandemic highlights the growing demand for the DSK’s services, expanding our mission to serve for our neighbors in good times and bad,” Fedell said. “I also want to offer the loudest of shoutouts to the many volunteers who have made the Dilworth Soup Kitchen what it is today, and what it has been able to provide day-in and day-out for more than a decade.”