Local soup kitchen patrons who received lunch at St. Jude’s Catholic Worker House now can eat at a new location.

Local soup kitchen patrons who received lunch at St. Jude’s Catholic Worker House now can eat at a new location.

Daily Bread, a new nonprofit kitchen, branched off from the worker house to supply local residents with lunches.

“We started working on becoming an independent organization as soon as we heard that the worker house would not be providing a soup kitchen,” said Ellen McDowell, president of the Daily Bread steering committee.

Starting Sept. 2, the group will provide sack lunches Monday through Friday at the New Covenant Fellowship Church, 124 W. White St., Champaign.

Yet, the organization is still without a permanent home.

“We’re kind of orphans of the storm at the moment,” McDowell said.

She said the goal is to find a location with a large kitchen, at least one bathroom and an area where guests can nap in the winter.

“It’ll be nice once there is an actual location,” said Brett Peugh, Champaign resident and soup kitchen patron. “There are people with disabilities or behavior problems, so moving around can be confusing.”

The organization needs to raise at least $200,000 to purchase a building, get the kitchen up to Champaign health code standards and take care of zoning issues, McDowell added.

“It is going to be very expensive, so we are starting to think of fundraisers,” McDowell said. “We recently received an anonymous donation of $5,000 to help us get started, so we are on our way.”

The group is completing the proper paperwork from the Internal Revenue Service to officially become an independent nonprofit organization.

“It’s a stumbling block to get the federal government going,” said Bob Goss, vice-president of the steering committee. “We decided to just go for it because the worst thing they can say is no.”

However, the temporary location prevents the kitchen from serving commodities such as hot meals to visitors.

Peugh said the sack lunches are not as filling as a hot meal but are a great alternative while Daily Bread is getting on its feet.

“I am semi-employed, so I come occasionally, like two or three times a week,” Peugh said. “I’ve never walked away hungry.”

McDowell estimated 20 to 30 people came for sack lunches Wednesday compared to the 70 to 80 who came to the worker house soup kitchen on a daily basis.

“A lot of people who work but only have enough to pay for rent and securities use the soup kitchen,” Peugh said. “It’s a way to survive.”

The food served is purchased by the volunteers or donated. Once the organization has a location, McDowell said she hopes the group can participate in the Susan Freiburg Memorial Food Surplus Program. The program gathers leftover food from restaurants, residence halls and hotels, and donates the food to soup kitchens and shelters, McDowell said.

Austin Martin, junior in LAS and volunteer, said he transitioned from Catholic Worker House to Daily Bread after the former location’s kitchen closed.

“Once we get going fully, the split may be alright,” he said. “It’s just disappointing that we can’t serve hot food or serve to our full potential.”