Spartanburg Soup Kitchen bearing weight of homeless shelter closing

Posted: May 3, 2023 / 07:08 PM EDT

Updated: May 3, 2023 / 07:27 PM EDT

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (WSPA) – Inside the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen, you’ll find music, fresh food, and recently, a lot more visitors.

“We are assuming that a lot of the new people that we see, had never been over here until last week,” said Lou Sartor, Spartanburg Soup Kitchen director.

Last week, a Spartanburg day shelter for those experiencing homelessness closed. They released a statement explaining their recent loss of support and funding.

Now, other organizations like the Spartanburg Soup Kitchen are filling the gaps.

“If you talk to any of my staff people or regular volunteers, they will all say the same thing that we are now, literally, working seven days a week,” said Sartor.

While numbers are increasing, volunteer Wanita Ruppert said she’s still worried there should be even more people coming to the soup kitchen. But with the loss of the opportunity center also came the loss of transportation.

“Since the opportunity center closed, our community, our homeless community, is having a hard time getting here because the bus would bring them,” said Ruppert, a volunteer from Hope Church.

While the soup kitchen has extended its hours in light of what’s going on, they are hoping donations continue to come in.

“Now we are having people that are coming even as late as one o’clock which really concerns us because when we start at 11:30, there might not be much left at one o’clock,” said Sartor.

Volunteers at the soup kitchen said, in the past two years, the number of people they see regularly has doubled.

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