A soup kitchen, food kitchen, or meal center is a place where food is offered to the hungry usually for no price, or sometimes at a below-market price. Frequently located in lower-income neighborhoods, soup kitchens are often staffed by volunteer organizations, such as church or community groups. Soup kitchens sometimes obtain food from a food bank for free or at a low price, because they are considered a charity, which makes it easier for them to feed the many people who require their services.
The working poor are working people whose incomes fall below a given poverty line due to low-income jobs and low familial household income. These are people who spend at least 27 weeks in a year working or looking for employment, but remain under the poverty threshold.
Feeding America is a United States–based non-profit organization that is a nationwide network of more than 200 food banks that feed more than 46 million people through food pantries, soup kitchens, shelters, and other community-based agencies. Forbes ranks it as the largest U.S. charity by revenue. Feeding America was known as America's Second Harvest until August 31, 2008.
Food Yoga International, formally Food For Life Global, is a non-profit vegan food relief organization founded in 1995 to serve as the headquarters for Food Yoga International projects. Food Yoga International has its roots in ISKCON dating back to 1974. It is a completely independent non-profit organization that supports the work of Food Yoga International projects both inside and outside of ISKCON. Its network of 291 affiliates span the globe, with projects occupying over 65 countries. Volunteers provide over 1 million free meals daily. Food Yoga International engages in various sorts of hunger relief, including outreach to the homeless, provision for disadvantaged children throughout India, and provision for victims of natural disasters around the world.
A hamper refers to one of several related basket-like items. In primarily British usage, it refers to a wicker basket, usually large, that is used for the transport of items, often food. In North America, the term generally refers to a household receptacle, often a basket, for clean or dirty clothing, regardless of its composition, i.e. "a laundry hamper". Typically a laundry hamper is used for storage and will be sturdier, taller and have a lid while a laundry basket is open and used mainly for transport.
Colel Chabad was founded in 1788 and is the oldest continuously operating charity in Israel. The institution runs a network of soup kitchens and food banks, dental and medical clinics, daycare centers, widow and orphan support, and immigrant assistance programs. It also provides interest-free loans, camp scholarships, career training and job placement, subsidized weddings for the poor, and many other social-welfare projects.
American Near East Refugee Aid (Anera) is an American 501(c)(3) non-governmental organization that provides humanitarian and development aid to the Middle East, specifically the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Lebanon and Jordan. Founded in 1968 in the aftermath of the Six-Day War, Anera initially sought to help the hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians by providing emergency relief. While still providing crisis response, Anera now also addresses the long-term economic and social needs of Palestinians, Lebanese and Jordanians through its health care, education, and job creation programs.
Young Heroes is a charity, based in Mbabane, Swaziland. With a focus on orphaned and vulnerable children and their elderly caretakers, Young Heroes directly addresses the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Swaziland — the nation with the world’s highest rate of infection — on three fronts: education and prevention; healthcare; and impact mitigation/poverty reduction.
Martha's Table is a non-profit organization, an active charity and volunteer center in the Washington, D.C., area.
Mary's Meals, formerly known as Scottish International Relief (SIR), is a registered charity which sets up school feeding programmes in some of the world's poorest communities, where hunger and poverty prevent children from gaining an education. It was founded in 2002 and has grown from its first feeding operation of 200 children in Malawi, to a worldwide campaign, providing free school meals in hundreds of schools and feeding more than two million children daily. Mary's Meals is named after Mary, the mother of Jesus, by its founders, who were inspired by their Catholic faith, although the charity is not a Catholic organisation.
Leket Israel, The National Food Bank, a registered nonprofit Israel-based charity, is the leading food rescue organization in Israel, serving 175,000+ needy people weekly. Leket Israel rescues surplus agricultural produce and collects excess cooked meals for redistribution to the needy throughout Israel via its network of 200+ nonprofit organization (NPO) partners.
City Mission Academy is a private, non-denominational Christian, charitable organization and K-5 school operating in the community of Brightmoor, Detroit, since 1998.
Unbound, formerly Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, is a nonprofit international development organization headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas. Unbound was founded by lay Catholics acting on the Gospel call to serve the poor. Its sponsorship program provides direct cash transfers to sponsored members who determine how to use their cash benefits to meet their goals. Beyond basic necessities such as food, housing, clothing and access to medical care, sponsored members frequently utilize their benefits to pay for education costs or to start or expand small business ventures. Unbound sponsors support more than 260,000 children, youth and elders in 17 countries.
Meet Each Need with Dignity (MEND) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization serving the northeast San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, California.
The Milwaukee Rescue Mission (MRM) provides meals, shelter, education and recovery services to struggling men, women and children. MRM's mission statement says:
Sharing God's love by caring for those who are poor in body, mind and spirit, to see lives transformed through Christ to hope, joy and lasting productivity.
Yad Eliezer is a Jewish poverty-relief organization in Israel. It is best known for its monthly distribution of thousands of family food packages, baby formula and baby food packages. It also provides a range of financial and rehabilitative support services, including the mentoring of boys from single-parent families and free or low-cost weddings at its wedding complex in Givat Shaul, Jerusalem. Founded as a small, neighborhood chesed organization, it is now one of the largest poverty-relief organizations in Israel, with over 12,000 volunteers. Led by Orthodox Jewish management, it provides services for both religious and secular families in Israel.
Food Angel is a Hong Kong–based food rescue organization. Food Angel was launched in 2011 by the Bo Charity Foundation. The organization is supported by local and international food donors, sponsors, and charity partners.
Joel Landau is a Modern Orthodox rabbi. He is associated with Yad Ezra V’Shulamit, an organization providing help to people in need throughout Israel, and The Kemach Foundation whose mission is to make positive impact in Israeli society, by contributing to its economic development, and providing resources and support for the members of the ultra-Orthodox community. Currently he serves as the executive director of “Israel Up Close Productions”, a non-profit film production company that researches and reports on how Israeli innovations improve the everyday life of people across the world.
The Capuchin Soup Kitchen (CSK) is a religiously affiliated soup kitchen and non-profit organization located in Detroit, Michigan. It was founded by the Capuchin friars to provide food for the poor during the Great Depression and is sponsored by the Capuchin Franciscan Province of St. Joseph. While it was initially established as a soup kitchen, CSK now includes a food and clothing bank, a drug rehabilitation program, and an after school and summer youth program. Through its various ministries CSK serves approximately 560,000 individuals each year.
St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance is a nonprofit, nonsectarian organization located in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 1967 by John van Hengel, St. Mary's was the first modern organization to operate using the food bank model, which spread throughout U.S. and the rest of the world. Today, St. Mary's is recognized as the world's first food bank.
