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2 unusual facts about Soup Kitchen-Food Bank Program


Soup Kitchen-Food Bank Program

The Soup Kitchen-Food Bank Program was originally authorized under the Hunger Prevention Act of 1988 to buy commodities for soup kitchens and food banks not participating in the Emergency Food Assistance Program (EFAP).

This program was consolidated with EFAP by an amendment to the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (P.L. 98-92) that was enacted as part of the 1996 welfare reform law (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (P.L. 104-193)).


Emergency Food Assistance and Soup Kitchen-Food Bank Program

The program is authorized under the Emergency Food Assistance Act of 1983 (P.L. 98-92, as amended; 7 U.S.C. 7501 et seq.).

Horace McKenna

McKenna founded So Others Might Eat, a soup kitchen, clinic and employment center; Martha's Table, a soup kitchen and child education center; and House of Ruth, a center for homeless women.

Soup kitchen

Social historian Karl Polanyi wrote that before markets became the world's dominant form of economic organisation in the 19th century, most human societies would generally either starve all together or not at all, because communities would naturally share their food.

Even in the early twentieth century, campaigning journalists like Bart Kennedy would criticize them for their long queues, and for the degrading questions staff would ask the hungry before giving out any soup.


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