Soul Cafe - Hood River, Oregon

After 7 years of serving free community meals and providing a safe place for people of all ages to gather, Soul Café will close its doors on April 30, 2010. On Wednesday April 21 the Soul Café board voted to start the process to close Soul Café, located at 1102 12th Street in Hood River, and to develop a plan to dispose of its assets. This Sunday, April 25th will be the last public Sunday supper and the last day for the after school program will be Friday April 30, 2010.

This action was taken because declining contributions and other funding has not been sufficient to cover the basic operating expenses such as rent and utilities. “Over the past year we have noticed a decline in contributions that accelerated last fall. The board set goals last September in three specific areas: board membership, contributions, and volunteer recruitment. We decided that if we could not meet these goals we would have to close. Unfortunately we were not able to meet our targets to allow Soul Café to continue,” said Debby Chenoweth, board president.

“We appreciate the support we have received from throughout the community,” said Perry Cole Soul Café’s manager and volunteer coordinator.” Without the contributions of individuals, churches, organizations, and businesses we would not have been able to serve hundreds of meals or provide a safe, fun, and positive place for people of all ages to gather for over 7 years.”

Soul Café is an outreach ministry of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) and was founded in a small coffee shop on Oak Street by Pastor Jill Rowland and a small group of volunteers in March of 2003. Today it serves over 400 people a month with after school programs, WiFi and computers, free Sunday suppers, robotics workshops, discussion groups, and a place to meet for groups such as the Leos, INOKA, pastors, and many other non-profits.

“What is most disturbing is that as the needs of the youth and community are growing Soul Café will have to close its doors. We hope that others will step up to meet those needs. Soul Café has been a true community effort, with support and involvement from people throughout the Gorge.” said Debby Chenoweth.