Our Mission Statement: The Southside Community Kitchen provides well-balanced, nourishing meals to the hungry people of Lansing in a caring, dignified environment where they are reassured of their worth as God’s unique works of creation. People of all ages and stages are welcome.  The only prerequisite is hunger.

What We Do

The Southside Community Kitchen:

• Prepares nutritious meals consisting of 4 oz of meat, a serving of fruit and a serving of vegetable, a serving of bread, potato or grain, a dessert and 8 oz of milk, coffee, and tea.
• Serves meals on a reliable schedule, with no cost or prerequisite requirements for our guests.
• Provides a place where compassionate and caring volunteers serve guests with kindness and respect.
• Offers a warm, safe and nurturing place for our guests and volunteers to experience community and gracious hospitality.
• Engages over 180 community volunteers in our mission.

Who We Serve

Our guests come from a variety of backgrounds but hold one thing in common – hunger insecurity. The majority of our guests are seniors who are living on a very limited budget and some have severe chronic health problems. We serve people of all ages and welcome families and extended families in need of a good meal. Some guests come once or occasionally, others require our help with meals on a regular basis. We are open to anyone who is hungry – no questions asked. We honor our guests by bringing their meal to their place setting so there is no waiting in long lines for a meal. Our guests gather around the table not only to be nourished by our meal, but also for conversation and support from other guests. Each day we serve an average of 1100 - 1300 meals each month.

Recognizing the needs of our Islamic guests we serve HalalVegetarian meals on Monday and Halal meals on Wednesday helping to meet the dietary requirements of students attending Refugee Development Center classes.  In the summertime, in addition to our regular meal service,  we serve over 500 meals to children and youth attending the RDC summer camp.

Last year we served nearly 20,000 meals to people in need.

Donations go towards purchasing necessary ingredients and supplies for our meals.