Mansfield's soup kitchen's new shop to bring in funds

The Mansfield Soup Kitchen recently set up shop on Church Street, Mansfield, after it lost its previous home on Dallas Street because of renovations. The new shop will be run by the nine volunteers who also run the soup kitchen. After finding out they were to move the group “looked around Mansfield for vacant properties’ before eventually deciding on the shop they have today. They have now been feeding the homeless from the shop for the last month. Sarah Spalding from Mansfield Woodhouse joined the group in 2015.She was awarded Mansfield Building Society’s 2018 Community Star Award for her work with the homeless.The 38-year-old said: “Most people who use the soup kitchen have said they ‘feel quite at home.’ “We try and make it welcoming.”As many as 12 to 40 people homeless people turn up on Wednesday’s 6,30 to 8 pm to use the soup kitchen. The shop hopes to bring in the rent needed to keep the serving the homeless. She said: “We opened the shop to create funds so the soup kitchen can stay open. “We have a lot of stuff - some is brand new with the shop tags still on. “There is quite a lot of designer items for sale as well. “We have had a lot of people going past saying how nice it is. “It is important to generate funds to put it back into the soup kitchen. So we can stay there for the homeless. “We have noticed a growing number of homeless now - it is a basic human right to have food and drink. “Just because they are homeless doesn’t make it any different. Fluid is especially important this time of year as they can get dehydrated.” Currently, the soup kitchen’s cooking facility is not “100 percent and up to how it was” before - they hope they will soon be able to hand out pies, curries and hot food. The shop will be opening on Monday, May 21 at 10 am. The shop 24 to 27 Church Street will be open 10 am to 4 pm every day except Wednesday’s and Sundays’s.