People’s Place plans soup kitchen on Broadway
The People’s Place, a thrift shop and food pantry in Midtown Kingston, plans to open a soup kitchen called The People’s Café.
The People’s Café — for which a building permit will be requested next month — is to be in a vacant storefront at 779 Broadway that’s part of the building where The People’s Place operates. It will be the first soup kitchen ever operated by The People’s Place, according to agency Executive Director Christine Hein.
The vacant storefront, near the corner of St. James Street, was occupied by City Style Express until August, when the owners of the shop retired, Hein said.
“There are multiple studies showing that a healthy diet wards off seasonal illness and long-term chronic ailments,” Hein said in an email. “It is also proven that many of our seniors of today do not have an adequate pension to cover their most basic needs due to inflation.
“We are situated near multiple senior housing complexes and hope many of these individuals will be using our café services,” Hein wrote. “We believe the café will lead to increasing the quality of life for so many of our neighbors by giving them access to a healthy diet and social interaction.”
Hein said interior construction will be needed to convert the vacant storefront into a soup kitchen. She said she did not have a cost for the renovation.
Hein said she expects The People’s Café to open in the spring and operate from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. weekdays. Its motto, she said, will be “Where everyone is welcome at our table.”
“The People’s Café will be an eatery open to the public for continental breakfast and lunch,” Hein said. “Our planned menus will be continental breakfast items such as bagels, pastries, oatmeal and fruit.”
Lunches, she said, will consist of soups, sandwiches, salads and fruit. Beverages also will be provided.
Hein said there will be no charge for any food or drinks served at the café, but “if those with financial means wish to make a donation to People’s Place, they could do so.”
Kingston Mayor Steve Noble said Wednesday that he supports the creation of The People’s Cafe.
“This community kitchen will fill a muchneeded space in our community, and the continued work that People’s Place does is invaluable to our most vulnerable residents,” Noble said in an email.
The People’s Place dates to the early 1970s, when the Mount St. Alphonsus Redemptorist priests and brothers set up a mission in a rented storefront on Abeel Street in Downtown Kingston.
In 1977, in cooperation with the Ulster County Department of Social Services, The People’s Place opened a “food closet” that has evolved into the agency’s current food pantry.
The People’s Place moved several times over the years, including to a Broadway storefront near the Ulster County Performing Arts Center, before settling into its current home.