April 28, 2021 – GREENFIELD, INDIANA
Kenneth Butler Memorial Soup Kitchen kicks off its Feed the Future campaign May 1, an effort to grow its financial bedrock to maintain its mission of providing hot meals to those in need. The soup kitchen currently holds an endowment of $75,000 through the Hancock County Community Foundation and aims to raise an additional $25,000 during the campaign, which ends Dec. 31, 2021.
Leo’s Market and Eatery is one of four groups or families to donate dollar-for-dollar matching funds in advance of the Feed the Future campaign, to help make sure the organization gets to its $100,000 goal.
Leo’s stepped up to support the soup kitchen because it is an integral part of the Hancock County community, said Stephanie White-Longworth, president of Leo’s Market and Eatery.
“The soup kitchen is an amazing organization that we are proud to be able to support,” she said. “The volunteers and staff who prepare those meals and care for everyone who comes through the door are a blessing to the community, and one of Leo’s Market and Eatery’s core values is to give back to the communities we operate in.”
Leo’s Market and Eatery has contributed to the soup kitchen in the past, including donations of kolaches to the kitchen’s pantry, White-Longworth said.
The soup kitchen, which opened its doors in December 2008, faced unique challenges last year through the pandemic, said director Jill Ebbert. Social distancing restrictions forced the kitchen at 202 E. Main St. in Greenfield to move to takeout only. The organization adapted, building a tent within the building to allow clients to pick up their meals in a warm area instead of standing outside through the winter months, Ebbert said.
Despite the limitations imposed by protecting clients, volunteers and staff from COVID-19, the kitchen in 2020 provided 23,491 hot meals, an 18 percent increase from 2019, Ebbert said.
And with the soup kitchen facing shortfalls from canceled events, the community stepped up in a big way, making generous donations that gave the organization its best financial year since its inception, she said.
“It was the right time to build on our endowment,” she said. “We are extremely grateful to the donors who are matching the funds, because with their help, we are hoping to surpass that $100,000 goal.”