Serving daily includes holidays at the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen

BENTON HARBOR, Mich.--- The average lifespan of a nonprofit is 10 years, but the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen has been around for 45. That's because 15 churches came together to help those in need, offering a fresh meal seven days a week, Christmas being no exception. And it's needed in a place like Benton Harbor, where 48 percent of the population lives below the poverty line.

"We serve a hearty lunch every day," said Merry Stover, executive director of the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen.  

She's been running it for sixteen years, serving hot meals daily-- holidays included. 

"Some of these folks don't have any food at home," Stover said. "Some don't really live anywhere, and this is the 2 hours they can come into a nice, warm place, get good food, a cup of coffee, some people around them that aren't going to judge them or think less of them because they might be dirty or tired or whatever."

Folks come back to eat and volunteer, like Preston Greely. 

"It's a place for somebody that needs somebody," Greely said. And folks like Ardis Lee.

"It's like a safe haven, a savior for a lot of people," Lee said. "Cause there's a lot of people that have very little and sometimes nothing to eat, okay? And this place, it's like heaven on earth." 

Stover says the soup kitchen, for some, is one of the few constants in their lives. 

"Just that little bit of peace," Stover said. "As one of my former guests who was a drug addict when he ate here, he's now a drug counselor, says it was like that beacon of light you could look forward to every day."

Tuesday, Christmas Eve, is business as usual for the kitchen, open 24/7, 365 days a year. 

"There are a lot of people who don't know where to turn and who to ask for this and that. People who are in need," Lee said. "And when they come here, they get all those answers. And the people that run this place, they are doing a wonderful job." 

To donate or learn more about the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen, click here: https://soupk.org/


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