The Fulton Soup Kitchen provides meals for those in need four nights a week at the John C. Harris Community Center.
Recently, the small organization suffered a big blow: its commercial freezer broke, and in addition to losing all of the food it contained - mostly cases of meat from the Food Bank of Central and Northeast Missouri - the soup kitchen now is faced with the estimated $2,000 cost to either repair or replace it.
"We can cover that, but it would wipe us out," said volunteer Connie Cashion, noting the group is funded entirely by private donations.
Cashion said she and Anne Erbschloe, the organization's founder and president, looked into the possibility of getting a grant, but the deadline for those that would have been applicable was Feb. 1 - several days before the freezer broke.
Waiting until next year and another shot and grant money is not an option if the soup kitchen hopes to continue to meet the need for its services.
"If we don't get it fixed, we're going to lose out on food because we won't have a place to put it," Cashion said. "This really limits the quality of food we can offer."
Cashion and Erbschloe are looking for support from the community to help replace the freezer.
Donations for the Fulton Soup Kitchen can be sent to P.O. Box 951, Fulton. For more information, contact Erbschloe at (573) 220-2450.