The Organic Soup Kitchen Dedicated to Serving a Community
I think we all can agree that soup kitchens, in general, are great places. They provide warm food to people in need – what could be better? Well, there is one soup kitchen – The Organic Soup Kitchen in Santa Barbara, California – that we think is just a tad better than the rest. Why? Because this soup kitchen is A. organic and B. the kitchen is dedicated to serving a community – fully.
The Organic Soup Kitchen was founded in 2009 to feed its surrounding community wholesome and healthy food. Since the Kitchen’s start, it has served many people — including 30,000 people in 2014. The Kitchen primarily relies on public funding and is housed in the community’s Veterans Memorial Building. It plans on serving 50,000 people in 2015.
While the Kitchen had humble beginnings, it now supports various local programs that serve various parts of the community’s population:
1. Women’s Free Health Clinic
2. Transition House
3. Common Ground
4. Housing Authority of Santa Barbara
5. People’s Self-Help Housing
6. Veterans Administration
The Soup Kitchen also provides the above agencies with meals.
Anthony Carroccio, the Soup Kitchen’s founder grew up helping the community in his hometown in Rhode Island. Carroccio strives to provide organic soups that are filled with wholesome foods to “help prevent nutritional deficiencies in individuals in need.” Every one of the Kitchen’s soups is filled with locally grown veggies, and contains no chemicals or pesticides. Also: Each soup the Kitchen makes is low-glycemic and anti-inflammatory.
While researching this story, I saw many comments on news sites that were pretty down on the “organic” portion of what this soup kitchen does. Now, it’s not that these reactions surprise me, but rather, they bum me out. Organic produce shouldn’t be a luxury — it should be mandatory, and it’s lovely that The Organic Soup Kitchen “gets” that. Let’s hope more soup kitchens start to follow this trend in the coming year.
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