Weekly soup kitchen feeds the needy despite pandemic

Published 6:15 pm Thursday, March 11, 2021

MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Pathway Outreach Soup Kitchen held its second dinner and fellowship of the month on Wednesday.

Held at 5:15 at the Union Grove House of Prayer, 80 plates were prepared to give out to anybody in need. Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the churches involved have moved from an open dinner and prayer to a “to-go” style dinner, according to coordinator the Rev. John Eubanks.

“Our volunteers wear masks to keep themselves and others safe,” Eubanks said before the event. “People will come through a line we’ve set up on the front porch and will be given a to-go plate prepared by the volunteers.”

Each Wednesday one out of the 13 organizations is in charge of preparing and handing out food. These include Life Spring Community Church, Life-Under-the-Son Ministries, First Presbyterian Church, Union Grove House of Prayer, Friendship Alliance Church, US Christian Chaplains, First Church of the Nazarene, Oak Grove Baptist, First United Methodist, First Baptist Church, Trinity Baptist Church, Open Door Church and the Moultrie Police Department.

Only three to four volunteers are allowed to participate each week from each organization due to the pandemic, according to Eubanks. This week’s dinner was provided by Frankie Cadenhead, Jennifer Cadenhead, Cindy Fischer and David Plymel of Open Door Church.

“We make everything at our church then box it up and bring it over,” said Jennifer Cadenhead.

The Open Door Church volunteers had prepared beef and cheese quesadillas with black beans, sour cream, salsa, a Little Debbie Star Crunch for dessert and a bottle of water for each meal.

While anyone is welcome to a meal, each adult is allowed to take a maximum of two boxes and one box is allowed for anybody underage going through the line.

“Unfortunately we don’t have enough to feed everybody sometimes, so we keep this rule to make sure we can give as many out to as many people as possible,” said Frankie Cadenhead. 

People are welcomed to come back around six when the kitchen closes to see if any extra meals still need to be given out. Eubanks would like to expand the program to the other side of town sometime in the future.

“While there aren’t any plans to do so because we rely on the kindness of others to help keep the program running,” stated Eubanks, “there is a need for more of these types of programs and I hope to bring them soon.”