A Different Kind Of Social Service Institution: The Expansive and Transcendent Capacities of the Soup Kitchen

Abstract

This study uses qualitative interviews to examine how 13 soup kitchens across the state of Connecticut work to meet the complex needs of their clients. Because of the intimate and recurring nature of the service they provide, these kitchens are uniquely positioned to form holistic understandings of their clients, and functionally act as an institutional form of the traditional social worker. Furthermore, through the extensive referrals and cultivated networks in which they engage, they are able to act not as a barrier but as a point of entry, transcending structural limits and widening client opportunity. Rather than adjusting their work to fit within an existing framework of limited resources and ample constraint, soup kitchens therefore meet these challenges with creativity and innovation, working to expand their frameworks and, wherever possible, meet full client need.