Wanted: New home for West Broadway soup kitchen

Time is running out for Agape Table.

The 38-year-old soup kitchen needs to move out of its current space attached to the All Saints Church on Colony Street by the end of February. The worn out building is slated to be torn down to make way for an affordable housing development.

"The building is done. It's been done for a while," said Brent Neuman, priest at All Saints church. "We have a kitchen that is in really bad shape."

Agape Table's board of directors is exploring a few options for relocation. Any replacement would require a commercial kitchen and a hall big enough to serve 80 people at a time.

"One of our main goals is to stay in West Broadway. That's where we have always been, that's where most of our guests are," said board chair Jim Steep, adding the need for a soup kitchen in the area has increased over the last year.

"Our numbers are growing, which is not a good thing. We are glad we are there to provide the service."

Last year, they were serving 250 people a day. That number jumped to an average of 350 a day this year.

Church to remain open

The church itself is a heritage building and will remain open. The congregation is working with the University of Winnipeg to build a 100-110 unit affordable housing building.

"Well we certainly want to make it very clear we're doing everything we can to support Agape as they move forward, because this has been difficult for them and for us. We're trying to find a way that does the best thing for everyone," Neuman said.

The board remains hopeful a new home will be found sooner than later.

"It would be a nice Christmas gift to have a place before Christmas," Steep said.