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Our Story
Nourishing Our Community, One Meal at a Time
Every weekday, the Belfast Soup Kitchen serves full, nutritious meals in a warm and welcoming space where guests are treated with respect and kindness. Food is the starting point for everything we do. We serve warm meals that help build hope, dignity, and connection for every guest who walks through our doors.
Our Mission
The Mission of the Belfast Soup Kitchen is to provide a safe community where our guests can find food,
comfort and hope for the future in an atmosphere of dignity and respect.
Our Values
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Culturing compassion for those we serve
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Treating our guests with dignity and respect
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Providing a safe and affirming environment
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Encouraging support and involvement from the larger community
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Maintaining stewardship and transparency in the use of our donated resources
Our Vision
We envision a future where no individual or family in Waldo County has to worry about where their next meal will come from. We are dedicated to creating a sustainable solution to end hunger and its effects on our community.
Our History
Driven by the belief that no one in their community should go hungry, the organization began serving meals from the basement of the “Red & White” building. As demand grew, it became clear that a larger, permanent space was needed. After three years of searching for a suitable location, the Board of Directors determined that building a new facility was the best long-term solution. Construction on the new Belfast Soup Kitchen at 31 Belmont Ave began in 2019 in partnership with 2A Architects and thanks to tremendous community support. Despite pandemic-related delays, the doors officially opened June 2020. At that time, the Belfast Soup Kitchen served 40-50 meals a day. As of 2025, that has grown to over 400 meals a day. This growth shows the Belfast Soup Kitchen's commitment to meeting the needs of our community, ensuring our mission reaches an ever-growing number of people in need. Today, the Belfast Soup Kitchen is the only full-time soup kitchen and food pantry in Waldo County, operating five days a week, 52 weeks a year, to serve those in need throughout the community.
For 20 years, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church played a vital role in feeding the hungry in the Belfast area, providing both volunteers and financial support for a local soup kitchen. In 2009, St. Francis joined a cluster of churches under St. Brendan the Navigator Parish, it became financially unsustainable for the church to continue operating the soup kitchen.
Seeing the need in the community, a dedicated group of community members took action and formed the Belfast Soup Kitchen as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2010.
Partnerships & Collaborations
The Belfast Soup Kitchen understands that addressing food insecurity is a community-wide effort.
We collaborate with various community agencies to provide wraparound services that support our guests. Partners like Belfast Public Health, Belfast General Assistance, Waldo Community Action Partners (WCAP), University of Maine Cooperative Extension, SNAP-Ed, and WIC engage directly with our guests through scheduled and on-request visits.
To ensure consistent access to food, we work closely with Waldo County Bounty, Daybreak Growers Alliance, Good Shepherd Food Bank (GSFB), Hannaford, Belfast Co-op, and local farmers to source fresh, nutritious food. We also support other hunger relief organizations in Waldo County by offering free storage space in our regional units and covering electricity costs.
Collaboration remains at the heart of our work.
We continually look for ways to consolidate resources with other Belfast-area food pantries to better serve our communities. Our partnerships also extend beyond Waldo County—we have worked to provide food to Islesboro and reallocated a Hannaford Fresh Rescue pickup day to another local pantry with GSFB’s approval.
Whenever possible, we share surplus resources with area food pantries in need, ensuring everyone has access to the food they require - because we know our community is stronger when we come together.
Are you a local business looking to partner with us and support our mission?
Please contact our Executive Director, Cherie Merrill at cherie@belfastsoupkitchen.org or by calling 207-338-4845 option 2.
All of our critical services and programming are entirely supported by generous financial and in-kind donations from area businesses, individuals and various regional grant resources.
