City Gives Go Ahead to Turn Soup Kitchen Over to Local Ministry
New services will soon be available at the Toccoa Soup Kitchen on Whitman St.
A local ministry now has official approval from the City of Toccoa to expand services at the Toccoa Soup Kitchen.
At their meeting Monday night, the Toccoa City Commission approved a plan for the P230 ministry to take over the running of the Soup Kitchen and expand services to the homeless and needy.
“I move that we authorize the City Manager to prepare the lease for the soup kitchen for the P230 Foundation,” Commission Jeanette Jamieson said.
The motion was seconded by Gail Fry and passed unanimously without a second reading.
Earlier this month, P230 founder Steve Paysen announced the ministry will not only take over running the soup kitchen, but will also install a new laundry area with washing machines and dryers, as well as an area for people to shower.
Paysen tells WNEG News, the new services are part of an overall new ministry.
“We’re expanding the services there and we’re creating what we call, “The Hope Center of Toccoa,” he said. “It’s there for anybody who needs it, the working poor, the homeless or don’t have adequate facilities for showers or laundry.”
Anyone who needs to use the laundry or take a shower will be able to do so free of charge,
Paysen said the new phase of ministry will also be used to help children in the school system who need help cleaning their clothes.
“We’re going to focus also on some of the children in school that have those issues who don’t have the ability to have their clothes laundered properly or at all or regularly,” Paysen explained. “We will attempt to implement a pick up and drop off system at public schools. We’ll pick up a bag of their clothes, wash them and deliver them back for them to take home that evening after school. There’s 40 families in the school system who are at risk. That number is going up rather than going down.”
Paysen said funding for the laundry and shower addition is coming from various sources, including grants.
The expanded ministry is expected to be open sometime in the fall.