There has (hopefully) been only a temporary pause with the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Salvation Army, free lunch program.

The Salvation Army in Waterloo-Cedar Falls has been hosting a free lunch 2 days a week for the past 2 months. Each Monday and Friday, people would gather in their gymnasium to enjoy their free meal. The problem is...it's pretty hard to have a free lunch if there's no one around to make the food.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Salvation Army is looking for a cook!

Salvation Army Needs You

According to KCRG, the previous Foods Programs manager has decided to "resign due to health-related issues." Ever since their resignation, volunteers and/or other staff have done what they could by volunteering to try and keep this program running. Sadly, that has turned out to be a tough situation, which has caused the suspension.

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Martin Theis works with the Salvation Army and he told KCRG, that there are a lot of people who count on this meal.

"We’ve just had to temporarily pause on the feeding until we get a new cook. You have to understand a lot of the folks that we serve really depend on this meal. We have lots of volunteers who are fabulous, but they shouldn’t be running the program on their own. We need a staff member to run point as it were."

You have to feel for everyone in this scenario. You feel bad for the people who look forward to this meal, you feel bad for the Salvation Army who is trying to help people who could really use it, and you feel bad for the Food Program Manager who sadly had to resign. It's not just this area the Salvation Army is dealing with staff shortages either.

Their dealing with shortages in a variety of departments with some of the staff having to be re-directed to the emergency shelters and youth programs. These changes are also part of why the lunch program has had to be suspended.

Theis also added, "Even with our reduced numbers we were still serving around 100 people. People still need this program and we believe people still want this program. We've still been trying to make a go, even under difficulty."

Sadly, those who use this program will have to wait until the Salvation Army can hire a new cook. If you believe you have the passion and time to help others, it's not necessarily about the food you make. It's about what you can provide to a community.

Maybe you're the next Salvation Army hero?