Stone Soup Café, a local soup kitchen, describes their current need for donations.
FAIRBANKS, Alaska - The Stone Soup Café is a non-profit soup kitchen in Fairbanks, Alaska. Five days a week, the café serves hot breakfast from the Fairbanks Community Food Bank to those who are hungry from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. and sends their visitors off with a sacked lunch. Unfortunately, as the excitement of the holidays comes to a close, so does the season of giving.
Abby Waldorf, Café Manager at the Stone Soup Café, spoke more about their current need for donations. Waldorf explained, “We saw our numbers dip down a little bit in the winter time, so we went from about 100 meals a day to about 80 or so over the last few months.” The holidays support the idea that the best season to give is during “the giving season,” which comprises just a few months out of the year. November and December give us the Thanksgiving and Christmas good Samaritans, but the non-profits, especially, take a hit during the other months of the year. “And during the holidays we saw a huge influx of donations where people really are thinking about giving and so Thanksgiving and Christmas time we saw tons and tons of donations.
Within this food and donation shortage, the soup kitchen compiled a list of more specific needs. Currently, they are asking for softer foods, which are helpful for folks who suffer from dental issues and have no health care. Some other items might include: fruit cups, sweets, bottled water and individual sized chip bags. Waldorf even commented on how convenient donations from Costco are, given that they are sold in bulk. Donations are accepted from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
If you are unable to give anything but your time, the Stone Soup Café is always looking for volunteers. Volunteers stay until about 10:30 a.m. after serving breakfast beginning around 7:30 a.m. You can learn more on their website at