Soup kitchen out of Thanskgiving food

LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) - A tough national economy and local layoffs are leading to bigger crowds at an area soup kitchen.

The line began well before the doors opened at Matthew 25: Care and Share Kitchen, which was handing out Thanksgiving meals.

Though the kitchen was originally scheduled to hand out meals until 4:00 p.m., they were forced to stop at 1:45 p.m. when they ran out of food.

About 840 people showed up in 2008. This year Kitchen Manager Cheryl Rayburn and her staff handed out 1,214 sacks, each of which feeds about five people.

To be ready for the extra crowd, more of the soup kitchen staff were moved inside to work on a grocery assembly line of sorts.

This year people could walk up to the window, get what they needed, and be on their way.

"By doing that it made it so they could just pick up their groceries, go down and relatively keep the line moving," said Kitchen Manager Cheryl Rayburn.

Rayburn said the toughest thing for people to do is not braving the cold, or standing in line: it is admitting they need help.

"There's a point in time, in all of our lives, that we do need help, and that's what we're here for," said Rayburn.

Rayburn said the kitchen will been there, ready for a similar crowd, when Christmas rolls around.