Demands on Lynn soup kitchen grow

LYNN – The demand for free meals at the North Shore?s largest soup kitchen continues to rise because of the tough economy, according to Dianne Kuzia Hills, executive director of My Brother?s Table in Lynn.She predicts the soup kitchen will serve more than 100,000 lunches and dinners in the next year, up from around 98,700 last year.?The trend is definitely moving up,” she said.Kuzia Hills has seen new people coming in for free meals and others coming in more frequently.?We?re seeing a lot of people that have had their budget stretched pretty tight that have gotten around the need to come here,” she said. “But now their budget is stretched past that point.”Kuzia Hills also reports that she?s seen an increasing number of younger veterans home from Iraq and Afghanistan, who have had trouble finding work and end up visiting the soup kitchen to eat.?The number grows as more and more people are coming back, and the job market is so difficult,” she said. “They?re proud to serve their country, but they don?t have a lot of options when they come back.”In addition, she has seen more people in their 40s and 50s using My Brother?s Table.?They?re people who are too young to be retired and get retirement, but they?re just old enough that it?s hard for them to break (back) into the job market,” she said.Supporters of the soup kitchen are raising money for My Brother?s Table on Sunday with the 30th annual Walk for My Brother?s Table.Ninety percent of the money raised from the walk will go toward feeding the people who My Brother?s Table serves, and the other 10 percent will offset the costs of the walk, including prizes and snacks.The walk on Sunday will cover a three-mile stretch along the Swampscott and Lynn shore, beginning and ending at the Church of the Holy Name, 60 Monument Ave., in Swampscott. Registration is at 1 p.m. and the walk will start at 1:30 p.m.People interested in participating in the walk can pre-register online at mybrotherstable.org or at the walk. Those unable to attend Sunday?s event can either sponsor a walker, or complete a virtual walk on the soup kitchen?s website.Ellen Parker, executive director of the state-wide Project Bread, said that in addition to people in Massachusetts who have long struggled with going hungry, a new at-risk group has recently emerged because of the bad economy.?I would say there is a different group who are not absolutely impoverished, but they are either living on their savings, if they have just gotten laid off from work, or their unemployment may be running out, or they found a job and aren?t making as much,” she said.In particular, Parker said that the staff on Project Bread?s FoodSource Hotline, an informational line that gets 50,000 callers each year, have been hearing most frequently from people aged 18 to 30, who may have just gotten out of college or are unable to find a job.The organization, based in East Boston and dedicated to battling and ending hunger in Massachusetts, is the soup kitchen?s single-largest cash donor.My Brother?s Table does not receive any government or United Way assistance, and relies solely on individual donations, private grants and fundraising events.Because of the tough economic climate, some of the soup kitchen?s donors, most of whom live in Lynn or the surrounding communities, have not been able to give as much money.?We have more supporters than before, but the amount of money they?re able to donate is less because of their economic situation,” Kuzia Hills said.My Brother?s Table also receives in-kind food donations from places such as Old Neighborhood Foods, Sidekim Foods and Traditional Breads, all in Lynn. But donations of locally grown food from groups such as The Food Project are falling off because the growing season is ending, which means the soup kitchen has to increase the amount of buying it does on its own.The yearly budget is $1.1 million, Kuzia Hills said, including a food expenses total of $500,000, which makes up actual purchasing and t