Diablas Kitchen pepares Thanksgiving meals for Soup Kitchen

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI/KIDK) - The COVID-19 pandemic has made it difficult for many people to celebrate the holiday season.

A local woman is stepping up to make sure those who are struggling have a Thanksgiving meal in their home during this tough time.

The Idaho Falls Soup Kitchen had temporarily closed as the pandemic made it difficult for them to find and keep volunteers.

Deana Brower, Owner and Head Chef of the Diablas Kitchen in Idaho Falls has been supplying Thanksgiving meals to the soup kitchen for the past five years.

When the soup kitchen had to close, there was a strong possibility those folks would have spent Thanksgiving without a meal.

After the soup kitchen opened backed up, Brower's plans to prep Thanksgiving meals are back on.

Staring Wednesday morning, Brower and her Diablas Kitchen employees started prepping meals to feed over two hundred people. 

"We've been planning it, it looked like maybe we weren't going to be able to do it, but then luckily due to the grants they were able to get, they opened back up," said Brower. "I mean, we just want to make sure that everybody that's hungry is going to be able to have a meal available to them. This was a community effort. I reached out on my Facebook page and put out a list of of needs to make this mail happen and within an hour all the needs were met. The community really came together to make it possible for me to be able to do this so."

After receiving a grant, the soup kitchen was able to re-open its doors.

Brower tells us those who are looking for work, the soup kitchen is currently offering paid positions to fill the role of a volunteer.