Northeast Georgia Soup Kitchens

“I was hungry and you fed me ... I was shivering
and you gave me clothes.” (Matthew
25:35a, 36a [The Message])

In the population survey published in fall 2011, the United States Census Bureau reports that last year 46.2 million Americans lived in poverty. That number is the highest since the bureau began
tracking the data in 1959. The agency reports that 27.4% of African- Americans, 26.6% of Hispanics, 12.1 % Asian and 9.9% of non-Hispanic whites lived in poverty in 2010. The report further states that 22% of American children under the age of 18 live in poverty. Soup kitchens were initially a phenomenon of the late 1920s and 30s and Great Depression, when the devastating economic conditions were felt by millions of people who had lost their jobs and were unable to feed themselves. What started out as church-based charities evolved into government programs in the 1930s.

Soup kitchens literally kept some folks alive. Current economic conditions have sadly necessitated the need for soup kitchens in several of our Northeast Georgia communities. One of these helpful organizations, the Habersham Soup Kitchen, operating in both Clarkesville and Cornelia, meets a
need by providing a hot meal six days a week, excluding Sundays.

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