After watching donations drop by 30 percent and subtracting the checkbook down to a $10 balance two weeks ago, Lee Alderman is looking for a way to keep the Emporia Rescue Mission and Abundant Harvest soup kitchen running.
The mission at 1119 Merchant St. provides housing and food for homeless men; the soup kitchen at 1028 Whittier St. serves dinners Mondays through Thursdays for people in need throughout the community.
Alderman, who is director of the programs, has asked area residents to join in a $40,000 fundraising drive that, if successful, will result in $80,000 for the ministries.
The matching funds will come from the Annual $1 Million Giveaway From Alan Shawn Feinstein, which is intended to fight hunger, Alderman said.
“They’ve agreed to match the Emporia Rescue Mission up to $40,000 out of his million dollars,” he said, “so we’re doing everything we can to raise $40,000 between March 1st and April 30.”
Feinstein money also can come from food donations.
“For every canned good donated, he’ll give $1, or if it’s other types of food, he’ll give $1 per pound,” Alderman said.
Residents of the rescue mission soon will send out about 400 letters to individuals to ask for donations, and Alderman will contact schools and churches to see whether they would be willing to do special events.
“If somebody would want them to come to a service club, I’d surely bring them to speak about how we’re fighting hunger in Emporia,” he said. “We’re serving about 1,200 meals a month and providing probably 150 bed nights a month ...”
At Abundant Harvest, leftovers are put in oleo, sour cream and other cleaned containers and sent home with diners after everyone has had enough to eat. On Thursdays, cooks prepare enough extra food to help feed participants during the weekend.
“We send home leftovers on Thursdays, plus everybody gets a separate sack of food and it’s about two meals’ worth of food,” he said.
Attendance usually ranges between 30 and 40 at the soup kitchen on Mondays through Wednesdays, he said.
“On Thursday, it can jump to 80 because they know they’re going to get the sack of food, and that’s been going on ever since I’ve been there,” Alderman said.
Most of the donations that finance the ministry come from individuals within a 20-mile radius of Emporia.
“Then next we get some from churches, and that’s basically it,” Alderman said.
Donations may be sent to the rescue mission, or can be made online at www.emporiamission.org.
“It’s new, it just got set up within this past week,” Alderman said of the online donations, “and we’ve got a safe and secure way to donate online.
“So we encourage people just to go online and make that donation.”
For information about the grant or services provided by the ministry, call 342-3351.