Idaho Food Bank serves 100,000 meals

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) — A local soup kitchen is crossing a major milestone. After 17 years, the Community Dinner Table (CDT) in Blackfoot has served 100,000 meals to people in need.

Ron Thompson, an active member of the LDS church, and his friend and neighbor Lee Hammett, a Methodist, created the Interfaith Soup Kitchen in 2008.

"Ron and I surrounded ourselves with such great people who are committed to faith," Hammett told Local News 8. "And you just turn it over and start doing what's best for the people you serve. It just went nuts, and I think that speaks really highly of Blackfoot community."

For the last 17 years, more than 22 local churches and business groups have taken turns creating hot meals for people in need from November through March.

"We had no idea we'd be going 17 years later," said Thompson.

The Idaho Food Bank says more than 11% of Idahoans experience food insecurity. With the need so great, the interfaith group is feeding more than 7,550 lbs of food to 150 families each month. 

"I know my family has been helped with that because we wouldn't have food if it wasn't for the food pantry," said Angelina Quilimaco, a Blackfoot resident.

CDT Board President Jackie Young says the program is on a mission feed and bring together the community.

"A lot of people don't need the food, but they need to serve, or they need to get together and meet with other people," said Young. "This dinner meets a lot of different needs for a lot of different people, and it's amazing what it's brought together in our community."

In honor of the achievement, CDT has partnered with the Blackfoot Movie Mill to provide every person who came to the dinner with a ticket for the theater.

Next week, CDT expects to feed over 350 people for an early Christmas dinner.