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REIDSVILLE — The pantry inside the Reidsville Soup Kitchen is filled with cans of beans, boxes of pasta, macaroni and cheese, and cake mixes.
But all that food doesn’t matter if the soup kitchen can’t pay the bill to keep its gas stove turned on for cooking.

That’s the situation the Reidsville Soup Kitchen is in, said Executive Director Stephanie Trent. The organization can’t afford its operating expenses and may have to close next month, she said.

“It’s just a sign of the times,” she said Thursday. “We’re fine with food and volunteers, but people just don’t have ... the expendable income anymore. A lot of our individual donors — all that money has just dissipated.”

The Reidsville Soup Kitchen has served hot lunches for 23 years to anyone who walks through its doors. It started as a ministry of St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church before branching out into the community.

The soup kitchen, open seven days a week, served 23,000 meals last year, Trent said, and more than 22,500 so far this year.

Ophelia Brown, the kitchen manager and only paid employee, served more than 60 lunches between 11 a.m. and noon Thursday. Paper plates of hamburgers, baked beans, potato salad and cookies lined the counter. One by one, patrons filed through the door and picked up their plates.

“It’s always a hot, balanced meal,” Brown said.

Nobody leaves without food. One man showed up shortly before noon, after all the burgers were gone. Brown quickly heated up some franks and hotdog rolls and served them with baked beans.

Elizabeth Bartram said the soup kitchen and its staff supported her through a few months of being homeless.

“I appreciated everything — the hospitality, the food, just the overall service,” she said during a visit Thursday. “They’re really like a family.”

Linda Morrow, who lingered after her meal Thursday to help clean up the dining room, said she enjoys the atmosphere.

“I just like to come cause it’s fun,” Morrow said. “Everybody knows everybody.”

Trent said the soup kitchen has been in dire straits for several months. The nonprofit cashed in its only certificate of deposit to keep the kitchen open through the summer.

In addition to Brown’s salary, the nonprofit must pay insurance on its Arlington Street building, worker’s compensation insurance, and gas and phone bills. “Normally, it takes approximately $2,000 a month for us to run the kitchen, and that’s just with one paid employee,” she said.

Trent said the kitchen received a $2,000 emergency grant from the Reidsville Area Foundation to get through October. The organization also has applied for a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Trent said the board of directors will meet again next week to discuss its funding situation.

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 627-4881, Ext. 126, or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com