The last supper for Morristown’s Table of Hope?

Susan Hunter of the Morris County Sheriff's Office volunteers at Table of Hope, MLK Day 2015. Photo by Berit Ollestad
Susan Hunter of the Morris County Sheriff's Office volunteers at Table of Hope, MLK Day 2015. Photo by Berit Ollestad
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By Kevin Coughlin

Friday will mark the last supper for the Table of Hope, at least for awhile, according to the soup kitchen’s founder, Pastor Sidney Williams Jr. of  Bethel AME Church.

“We will be suspending operations of Table of Hope effective Friday, March 4th, at 7 pm due to a lack of financial support,” Williams said on Thursday.

Susan Hunter, center, and Sheriff Ed Rochford volunteer at Table of Hope on MLK Day 2015. Photo by Berit Ollestad
Susan Hunter, center, and Sheriff Ed Rochford volunteer at Table of Hope on MLK Day 2015. Photo by Berit Ollestad

The soup kitchen has been serving up to 100 people — many of them the working poor–five nights a week in Bethel’s basement since September 2013.

But Williams said some large funders “have redirected their support elsewhere” and he must find another $50,000 a year to keep the operation afloat.

He said the board of the Spring Street Community Development Corp., the nonprofit that oversees Table of Hope, will decide the soup kitchen’s future later this month.

“I’m really sad. We’ve been fighting really hard to keep it open,” the minister said.

Asked if his unsuccessful bid for town council — he ran last fall as a Republican in Morristown’s heavily Democratic Second Ward, in a hard-fought race– may have driven away soup kitchen backers, Williams said: “Table of Hope may have been politicized, rather than people seeing its purpose.”

Pastor Sidney Williams Jr., center, gets a hand from Morris County Clerk Ann Grossi, right, and friends at the Table of Hope soup kitchen. Photo by Berit Ollestad
HAPPIER TIMES: Pastor Sidney Williams Jr., center, gets a hand from Morris County Clerk Ann Grossi, right, and friends at the Table of Hope soup kitchen in 2014. Photo by Berit Ollestad

He expressed hope that grass roots support for Table of Hope can be expanded, “regardless of my role.”

Table of Hope receives most of its food for free from the Community Food Bank of New Jersey and Grow It Green Morristown.

It gets volunteer help from people sentenced to community service, and from others pitching in as a condition of continuing unemployment benefits, Williams said.

Volunteer help also has come from the Women’s Club of Boonton, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, the Presbyterian Church of Mendham and the Morris County Sheriff’s Office, among other organizations.

“There’s no shortage of volunteers. There’s just a shortage of donors,” the Pastor said.

Williams said the soup kitchen has been fortunate to receive financial assistance from Assumption Church, the Presbyterian Churches of Morristown and Mendham, the Morristown Unitarian Fellowship and the Church of God in Christ. His church, Bethel AME, contributes between $40,000 and $50,000 a year to the project, he said.

While food mostly is free and labor largely is from volunteers, Table of Hope pays cooks and has other overhead, Williams said.

The Table of Hope Soup Kitchen on Martin Luther King Day 2014. Photo by Berit Ollestad
The Table of Hope Soup Kitchen on Martin Luther King Day 2014. Photo by Berit Ollestad

“Funds are needed for salaries, trash removal, food items and supplies not provided by the Community Food Bank or Grow it Green,” Williams said, “as well as the cost required to maintain our equipment — grease trap, refrigerator, dishwasher, etc.”

Williams said at least half of Table of Hope’s clientele are people who work low-paying jobs all day.  They can’t get to the free lunches served by the  Community Soup Kitchen at the Episcopal Church of the Redeemer.

“They count on Table of Hope for a square meal,” Williams said.  The homeless also come, as do seniors, when the weather is good. Table of Hope sees an influx of children “in the summer, when it’s hard to get a good meal at home,” he said.

Frank Vitolo, vice chairman of the Spring Street CDC board, said the nonprofit runs successful after-school tutoring programs and fitness classes; trustees will do their best to get the soup kitchen running again.

“Table of Hope needs your help,” said Vitolo, who also is Morristown’s GOP chairman. “We rely on the charity of the people in the community to volunteer and contribute. We’re a community-based kitchen. To be viable we need people to step up and help.”

Williams said the soup kitchen will undergo a thorough cleaning in the meantime.

“I hope we can get support and open it back up,” the minister said. “This is not a decision we wanted to make. But we also have to be accountable to the vendors who support us and the staff we have to pay.”

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the food bank that supplies the Table of Hope. The food is provided by the Community Food Bank of NJ.

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