MELBOURNE, Fla. — Friday was the final day of operation for the nonprofit Daily Bread in Melbourne.
What You Need To Know
- Daily Bread is a nonprofit in Melbourne
- The organization’s soup kitchen is closing its doors after serving the area for years
- It will continue to serve the community through a food truck
The soup kitchen closed its doors after one final meal was served.
But the organization’s mission to serve the homeless in the community isn’t stopping.
Now they are going mobile with their Streetside Chef food truck, visiting four different Melbourne area churches Tuesdays through Thursdays.
Along with Streetside, free showers will be offered to the homeless.
When Daily Bread opened on Fee Avenue back in 1988, it served a special dish to the people in need on the first day.
Fittingly, that same meal was on the menu on the nonprofit’s last day in their building.
“It’s a good day here, mixed feelings. We have a big pot of chili, the first meal we served in 1988 was chili, so we are honoring that legacy with some tasty chili for our folks and finding a way to say let’s move on together,” said Daily Bread Executive Director Jeff Njus. “We want to be able to be accessible on a regular, but not too frequent, basis that the rhythm we know can really work.”
Jimmy Long has been alcohol free for three years. He’s come to Daily Bread for help ever since.
He said he was sad to see the facility closing, but is grateful Daily Bread will still be serving meals for him and others.
“I’m sorry to see the soup kitchen go,” he said. “They’ve helped me out tremendously over the years. But I think they are headed in the right direction, God bless them.”
The Daily Bread is also starting a new project called Providence Place, which is a 3-acre site with 119 units on nearby Apollo Boulevard.
Daily Bread negotiated with the city of Melbourne to pay for it with a $3 million grant.
The Melbourne City Council unanimously voted in favor of the project.
“That’s what’s going to make the real impact in our community,” Njus said.
Groundbreaking on Providence Place is set for this fall, and construction is expected to last a year and a half — which would have Providence Place opening sometime in 2027.
The group will also operate a mobile van where their social work team can work with people on getting off the streets.
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