DeKALB | The Feed’em Soup Community Project teamed up with The Church in DeKalb, 122 S. First St., to provide food for more people, according to a press release.

With this partnership, Feed’em Soup is going to have a bigger kitchen, which means more food for more people.

The new kitchen will be located at the Church in DeKalb, it will be at the heart of DeKalb and along a major bus route said Derek Gibbs, vice president of Feed’em Soup.

“We are going from a 400-500 sqaure foot kitchen to a 1,800 [square foot] kitchen. Cooking for a 150 people in a 500-square kitchen was a challenge,” said Feed’em Soup president David Lumpkin. “However, with the larger kitchen, we are going to able to prepare food differently than before, and it will have even more of a restaurant feel.”

All the costs for the space will be paid for through donations.

“We have not yet spent a single penny [on the new location], but all costs would be paid for through donations or other contributions from businesses and members of our community,” Gibbs said.

The organization currently serves out of the First Lutheran Church of DeKalb, 324 N. Third St. They feed more than 150 people twice a month, and they are outgrowing this current location, Gibbs said.

“The new location would not only allow us to hold more people as our organization grows, but it would give us more kitchen space to utilize more volunteers,” Gibbs said. “It would also give us storage space to utilize donated food. While we provide meals to anyone in our community regardless of need, the most important service we offer is a warm home for our guests to socialize in and become friends with other members of our community. This opportunity to share not only a meal, but a conversation is the most important.”

Feed’em Soup is more than just a “soup kitchen.” It is a place for anyone in the DeKalb community to go out and have great food for free, Lumpkin said.

“With this larger location, they will be able to help more people,” said David Hansell, graduate student studying accounting. “It will allow them to provide a service to a larger amount of people in need.”

Anyone who wishes to donate to the cleanup and rebuilding of the new location can do so at www.FeedEmSoup.org.