LIMA — When most people think of a soup kitchen, a photo from the 1930s may come to mind.
For Randy Kimpel, a much different image appears.
After working for many years for the U.S. Postal Service, Kimpel became co-director of Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen. He started out as a volunteer more than a year ago, took on a paid position several months later and then became a co-director with Scott Catlett.
His hiring follows the termination of former director Stephen Jenkins, let go for undisclosed reasons.
On Wednesday, Kimpel talked to members of the Lima Optimist Club and showed slides of the soup kitchen.
“This is our humble place. We try to keep it cheerful,” he said with a slide of the dining hall on the screen.
The soup kitchen serves an average of 155 meals each day, more toward the end of the month. Last year it served 38,547 meals, he said.
Most of the meals come from donations from restaurants, St. Rita’s Medical Center cafeteria, businesses and banquets that have left-over food. They even received 400 pounds of venison from Farmers and Hunters Feed the Hungry, he said.
“We actually buy very little food,” he said.
The average food cost is 58 cents, he said.
The agency also welcomes cash donations that help pay to keep the lights on, for heat in the winter and utensils used for eating.
“Most of the funding comes from churches,” he said.
The kitchen also accepts anyone who wants to volunteer, Kimpel said.
“We are always happy to get volunteers. We never turn anyone away. Almost everyone who comes in comes back,” he said.
The soup kitchen serves meals weekdays from around 10:30 a.m. to noon but is open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“We are not going to turn anyone away hungry,” he said.
Kimpel and others at the kitchen have plans to build a shower room, since many people have nowhere to shower, to remodel some parts of the building and build a garage out back for the kitchen’s vehicle.
