Holy Family Soup Kitchen
It’s 10:30 am on a Tuesday, the halls of Holy Family Soup Kitchen are full of people and Dana Krull is searching the pantry for mustard, because hot dogs are part of the menu this day.
As the new director of a program that feeds a free meal to as many as 300 homeless and hungry people a day, Krull believes that no detail is too small to deserve his attention.
“We want our guests to know that they matter, that they aren’t numbers,” he said, “because they are just a number in so many places that they go for services.”
For more than 40 years, the soup kitchen run by Holy Family Catholic Church has been an oasis for those in need of a hot meal. Every weekday they fill the basement of the old brick building that once was the Holy Family School in the Franklinton neighborhood on the west side of Columbus.
There’s also a food pantry that provides bags of groceries to 25 or more families a day, with most of that food coming from the Mid-Ohio Food Bank at a minimal cost.
Krull, 39, is a former Army chaplain who grew up on the west side and worked at Holy Family for about 18 months before taking over as director in the fall.
But the heroes of this operation, he says, are the 125 regular volunteers who keep everything running day to day. Most are retirees who could be spending their leisure time in other ways. Some have volunteered for decades to help others less fortunate.
“They are seeking to serve just out of a simple love for fellow human beings,” he said.
The generosity of thousands of donors over the years also makes it possible for the soup kitchen to continue its work.
“Daily bread is the thing we’re striving to serve here. The goal is to help bridge the gap for those who just need to get by,” Krull said.
“And the need is not going to go away.”
- To learn more visit hfsk.org
