Funding shortfall looms for Fairbanks soup kitchen

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTVF) – A Fairbanks soup kitchen has been shattering its own records this summer, but the grant money sustaining that level of service has dried up.

Near the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, Bread Line, the organization that runs Stone Soup Cafe on Gaffney Road in Fairbanks, received about $300,000 from the American Rescue Plan Act Nonprofit Recovery Fund in 2022.

That money arrived just in time.

“It is the only thing that then enabled us to tackle the unexpected and phenomenal increase in need that we saw,” Bread Line Executive Director Hannah Hill said by phone.

Bread Line used the $300,000 to purchase food. That was important, Hill said, because the Stone Soup Cafe saw a 25 percent uptick in their meal service between 2022 and 2023.

“But now, that grant is gone,” Hill said.

Yet the busy days aren’t subsidizing. On Aug. 7 of this year, Bread Line dished out 160 hot meals and 195 sack lunches. That day broke the record for the number of meals the organization has served in one day in its 40-year history.

“We want to be able to serve everyone who needs us, but the need is so high. And without this funding to purchase food, we don’t know what we’re going to do,” Hill said.

The Bread Line executive director attributes the spike in the cafe’s service to more than the pandemic, saying the state’s food stamp backlog likely played a role, as well.

At its worst, that backlog had applicants waiting for their benefits for up to 10 months.

Since then, the state has invested $70 million in tech upgrades and new staff, and the program is now recovering. The Division of Public Assistance office in Fairbanks reopened in July, and the state recently launched an online portal for its public assistance programs, including food stamps.

Still, Hill said, if Stone Soup Cafe’s numbers are any indication, there’s work left to do.

“It’s one thing to fix the bureaucracy of a problem. And it’s a much longer timescale to repair the human damage that was done,” they said.

With the Covid-19 era grant money out of the picture, Hill estimated Bread Line is facing a $100,000 shortfall for their upcoming fiscal year, which starts Jan. 1, if the Stone Soup Cafe is to maintain its current level of service.

Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy’s budget for Fiscal Year 2025 did set aside $1.5 million as a one-time appropriation to create a grant program for Alaskan food banks and pantries.

“This one-time funding increment will support Alaskan food banks and pantries(,) allowing them to adequately serve communities,” the appropriation reads.

But for now, that funding — and details about what will qualify for the program — are yet to be released.

So, Hill said, Bread Line staff and volunteers will keep moving forward, getting food onto as many plates as possible.

“We’re not going to stop doing what we’re doing,” they said. “But we are already trying to figure out how we can cut costs — which, we’re a soup kitchen, so I don’t know what that is.”

The Stone Soup Cafe is located at 507 Gaffney Rd., Fairbanks, Alaska. The cafe accepts donations in-person or online.

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