Soup Kitchen hopes to reopen its doors to clients for first time since pandemic began

The Sault Ste. Marie Soup Kitchen Community Centre is hoping to open its door once again to the people it serves for the first time since the start of the pandemic.

The Soup Kitchen has been providing take-away bagged lunches since the doors were closed on March 17, 2020 by government order, along with many other organizations and businesses.

Even though capacity limits were recently lifted with proof of vaccination for indoor dining, the Soup Kitchen has some additional hurdles to get through before it can welcome its clients back through the doors in Jamestown.

“We are still doing the bagged lunches for the simple reason that over half of our clientele who do come are unvaccinated,” said Ron Sim, general manager of the Soup Kitchen. “It would be hard to police without utter chaos attempts the front door, so when we do open we will probably have to hire security.”

A bagged lunch generally consists of a sandwich, some fresh fruit and vegetables, a drink and dessert item.

Sim is hopeful the Soup Kitchen’s dining room will soon be back to offering hot lunches and good conversation indoors. He said that will depend on a decision by the Soup Kitchen’s board and Algoma Public Health.

“We are playing it by ear now while we watch what is happening, with caseloads slowly rising in town again after being good for quite some time,” said Sim.

He hopes the doors will open before the very cold weather comes and in time to help people who are expected to be using the nearby Verdi Hall, which was recently announced as a temporary 14-bed shelter.

“I was happy to hear they were opening up some beds at the Verdi Hall, which is much needed. It’s a much needed stopgap solution,” said Sim. 

Eight additional beds at the Steelton Centre will open soon to offer short-term housing for women while they wait for more permanent housing.

Sim said the need for the Soup Kitchen’s services has just about doubled compared to before the pandemic.

“It’s very much city-wide since the pandemic started, and with so many people not working or able to return to their job,” he said. “From what we see at the door here each day, some of these people are just living day to day.”

Currently, the Soup Kitchen is using its dining room area to store the food and other supplies that are usually kept in the basement of the building. Sim said that is just a temporary measure to save volunteers from having to lug boxes up and down the stairs.

Sim said the price of groceries has gone up during the pandemic, which is causing more people in the community to be reliant on its services, while also making it more difficult for the non-profit to stock its own shelves.

“With price increases everywhere, even buying in bulk isn’t as cheap as it once was,” said Sim. “Some items have almost doubled in price since COVID began and right now fresh fruit has gone through the roof.”

“If you’re miniumum wage with all of these price increases, how does anybody do it? It’s quite scary,” he added.

The Soup Kitchen will host its annual Great Soup Kitchen Sleepover fundraiser on Nov. 5. It didn't run last year because of the pandemic, but for 2021 the Soup Kitchen is taking the event virtual.

“We are not quite sure how it’s going to go. We have about 35 people registered so far and really appreciate that they took the initiative,” said Sim.

The fundraiser usually brings in about $20,000 a year for the Soup Kitchen, but Sim said he isn’t expecting to raise that much this year because he has noticed monetary donations have been down since the start of the pandemic.

“This year, if we make somewhere between five and 10 (thousand) we will be happy. It’s money we don’t have and it will help us to keep buying all of the things we need for the bagged lunches,” said Sim.