Our January designated offering (January 10) will benefit the Harvest Soup Kitchen, housed in the basement of the old St. Lawrence School at 820 East Charles Street in Muncie. (One imagines cheerful ladies in hair nets serving children there in the 1950s!) The Soup Kitchen, a non-profit corporation, was founded in 1994 and is not to be confused with Second Harvest Food Bank, although the two agencies work cooperatively. Its $20,000 annual budget is funded primarily by voluntary contributions of food and cash, with some grants; it is staffed with two parttime employees and 30 volunteers, plus BSU students.

Since 2001, our church has been providing one set of brown bag lunches monthly (you see those volunteers working in the church kitchen on the last Sunday of the month). The sack lunches are distributed with the lunch prepared by volunteers so that guests take home a meal to eat later. The Soup Kitchen serves 125-150 guests six days a week, with one Sunday lunch per month; it serves people of all ages who self-identify themselves in need of food. All are welcome; there is no means test. In the current economy, the need for places like the Harvest Soup Kitchen is greater than ever. If you aren't in church on January 10th, you can send a check, made out to the church, to the office, with "Harvest Soup Kitchen" on the memo line. It is a privilege to give.

To learn more about the Soup Kitchen read the 12/9/2009 story at bsudailynews.com and experience the interactive presentation at ballbearingsonline.com. – Bea Sousa