Isabella Community Soup Kitchen

The Isabella Community Soup Kitchen began in 1990 thanks to Gary Taylor as a class project while he was a student at Central Michigan University. Gary witnessed a fellow student from China eating a ketchup sandwich, the only food available to him at that time. The student explained to Gary that the country sponsoring his stay in the United States only furnished funds for books, material, room and board but not much else for food.

Gary found no existing Soup Kitchen in the area and got started on the project. The Wesley Foundation located on the Central Michigan University campus, where Gary’s spouse worked as a secretary, accepted to provide its tiny kitchen and cafeteria to feed the needy people of Isabella County. Word got out, people grew in number and three years later, Gary had to find a larger facility. Trinity United Methodist Church located downtown Mt. Pleasant offered its basement with a larger kitchen to shelter the Soup Kitchen where it operated for almost ten years. Once again the Soup Kitchen needed more space and the church also needed room for its programs.

A suitable site was found to construct a new building next to Millpond Park located on the West Side of town. With the help of Board Members and especially Fundraising committee Clarence Tuma, former owner of the well known Mt. Pleasant “Embers” Restaurant, the project got under way. Thanks to the great responses and pledges from businesses, churches, clubs and community, the beautiful new Soup Kitchen opened its doors in December 2002. In the fall of 2003, a very generous donation was received from the estate of a former Soup Kitchen Lead cook, one of our original volunteers and Board Member. This donation helped pay off our building mortgage.