The Soup Kitchen, an independent volunteer organization relying entirely on the donations of the community, unveiled its new 1,000-square-foot storage addition March 20.
For the past 23 years, the kitchen at 8645 W. Boynton Beach Blvd., has consistently grown and serves on average 500 meals every day to the needy and poor from the area.
With the Soup Kitchen being a private facility receiving no state funding, a donation was needed to make the extra storage space a reality.
Jemstone Construction Group, Inc. of Boynton Beach offered to play the role of general contractor for the addition.
The addition of the extra space will be used to better manage food for the extra people coming through the doors looking for a meal.
Enrique Zuanetto, who runs the Soup Kitchen, said last year the facility served 182,379 meals, a 49 percent increase from 2006.
John Burke, spokesman for the kitchen, said the addition would more than double the total size of the facility.
He said the addition, which took around three months to construct, would also make way for a small office in the back for volunteers and staff.
“They needed this extra space,” he said. “They are just seeing more people than ever walk through their doors.”

For information, call the Soup Kitchen at 561-732-7595.

Read more about this story in the March 25 issue of the Boynton Forum.

Mike Rothman can be reached at mkrothman@tribune.com.