Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen

03/19/2026

Great news! All the lanes for the 26th annual Gillespie Soup Bowl are taken! That doesn't mean that you can't come and party with us. We will need more than the usual 140 people to buy tickets and bid on the many fabulous auction items. Doors open at Noon, Bowling starts at 1:00PM.

12/11/2025

Thanks to all you community and business groups who are bringing food donations. While limited to sack lunches at the moment, we expect to be back in full operation in a few months. Our large freezer is running now, so we can accept those extra holiday meats. Specialite brought us turkeys at Thanksgiving, and today we received Christmas hams from them. The Plumbers and pipefitters in Kalamazoo brought us their usual 20-some turkeys. LCM Honors students brought us their food drive collection, as did the Grace Lutheran pre-school and first graders. The younger students also made ornaments to give to our guests.
We count on holiday meat donations to supply protein for our meals in upcoming months. Soup Kitchen staff and volunteers are eager to get back into the kitchen and cook some of them!

10/13/2025

Tomorrow, October 14th, is Give-Back Day at Gliks in St. Joseph benefitting The Benton Habor Soup Kitchen. 10% of all sales will be donated to The Soup Kitchen.
Gliks store in St. Joseph is at 414 State St. They carry mens's and women's clothing, shoes, and accessories. Besides the give-back, Glik's Anniversary Sale is going on now, so there are many items at reduced prices.
When you walk into the store, the feeling you get is comfort. They have flannels, jeans, fleeces, sweatshirts, shoes, and accessories. The store is open from 10 AM to 6 PM. Stop in and shop! Now that fall is here, plenty of parking is available.

04/21/2025

THE MOVE! As most of you have read, The Soup Kitchen is moving three blocks away to 174 W Main Street, the old Lark's restaurant. A large crew from St Joe Congregational is here today helping us move out tables and chairs; they are also packing our equipment. Tomorrow we are power washing everything we can
About 16 groups and twenty individuals have offered help, and we are busy organizing work for them to do.
As to the new place, we have several contractors working daily, along with cleaners and other folks hauling things. It is a beehive of activity.
We are still serving lunch every day. We are handing out sack lunches at our current location through April 30th. Starting May 1st, we will be serving sack lunches at the Main Street location. We have much construction to do and equipment to replace. New cooling and freezing equipment is on order, but we do not expect to receive them for two or more months. Sack lunch service will continue until all the work is done and we are recertified by the health department. Thanks to everyone! The Soup Kitchen works because everyone involved does their part.

03/18/2025

Thanks to everyone who sampled chili and donated to the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen at the St Joe Today Chili Tour. We received $500 from this year's event--Good eats for a good cause. Thank YOU!

03/15/2025

You still have time to register to bowl at the Gillespie Soup Bowl 2025. If you can't come but would still like to help, you can donate to Soup Bowl from your phone. Just text bowl2025 to 41444 and follow the link.
You may have heard that we lost our lease and must move by April 30th. We need help to buy the building, move, and replace equipment. We own our kitchen equipment, but some of it cannot be moved. As for me, I'll be at Soup Bowl to enjoy the party, bid on auction items, and see everybody. I'm not supposed to tell, but there are some GREAT door prizes again this year.

10/24/2024

The Spartan Foundation's fundraiser for the Soup Kitchen has been extended through November 27th!
All donations made at the Martins Supermarket store in St. Joseph will come to the Benton Harbor Soup Kitchen.

09/03/2024

We have reached the end of our coffee supply. If you can help, we use regular grind caffeinated coffee. We take donations between 9:00 and 1:00 every day. Thanks!

04/13/2024

Sharing some photos from the 2024 Gillespie Soup Bowl.

03/15/2024

Lanes are still available for the Gillespie Soup Bowl!!
And here is the info on the big 3 door prizes:

1) a tank-mounted oilless Jun-Air compressor…perfect for home-shop use. Value is $2,000.

2) $1,000 value off-road motor cycle. Top speed is 40 miles per hour.
3) $400.00 value kayak, paddle, life vest. The kayak can be carried by one person.

Join us for all the fun, whether or not you are bowling in the tournament. See the event listing for details. Here is the registration link:

The Gillespie Soup Bowl is a bowling tournament to benefit the Soup Kitchen. Come for the fun, food, door prizes, and bowling. This is always a super fun event, and it always sells out, so register early.

03/09/2024

UPDATE! The Junk Patrol fundraiser that benefits us has been extended through March 16! Several of my volunteers called Junk Patrol, and all reported very good service, careful removals, and timely pickups. Wow! All that, and The Soup Kitchen benefits. You have another week to do this, but give them a call today!