Soup Kitchen

The Village Temple Soup Kitchen has been proudly serving free meals to the homeless and needy every Saturday since 1987. Some of our guests live in the neighborhood, some come from other areas of the city and many join us on a regular basis and have become friends. We take great pride in preparing a wonderful hot soup together with sandwiches, fruit, hot/cold drinks and desserts. We have a small budget gained through grants and contributions and have food generously donated from local businesses weekly. We also receive food from City Harvest and the Food Bank for New York.

Everyone who works here is a volunteer. Some are members of the temple, some are from the neighborhood and we regularly have groups from regional public and private schools who contribute their time.

Preparation of food takes place every Saturday morning between 9:30am and 12:00pm. We have a rotation of volunteer cooks who make the soup and other volunteers who chop vegetables, make sandwiches, organize desserts, cut bread, set-up tables and pick up donated food from local restaurants, bakeries and stores.

You are welcome to join us on any Saturday morning - you don't need a reservation - just show up!

The serving crew is organized by New York Cares, the preeminent volunteer site in NYC. They serve the meals to our guests between 2:30pm and 4:00pm. Volunteers interested in joining the serving crew should call NYCares at 212-228-5000 to learn more.

By helping almost 10,000 people in need each year, we know that we are serving an important role in our community and working to make a better world. We invite you to join us in a truly rewarding and meaningful way of helping those less fortunate. Please feel free to call J. Dean Chavooshian at 212-255-6063 to learn more about how you and your family members of any age can join the Saturday morning volunteers in this noble and important effort to make the world a better place - or just show-up, no call necessary. We are certain that you will think that it's fun and rewarding.