Food for thought: soup-runs and soup-kitchens - a Good Practice briefing
By: Good Practice Unit Published: July 2005
This briefing examines the arguments of opponents of mobile food distribution services aimed principally at homeless people, most commonly known as “soup-runs”, and the arguments of those who support them. It concludes that in some circumstances and provided certain conditions are met, such services can have a beneficial impact.
Summary
Soup-runs operate in most cities and between them see hundreds of people each week. They have however, come under fierce criticism from some mainstream agencies, who are therefore either indifferent or in some cases even hostile to the existence of soup-runs.
This in turn leaves soup-runs isolated which means that in some cases they are not able to best help the people who they feed.
