City of Belleville Funding Provides Ongoing Support of Salvation Army Food Programs

Sally Ann Suppers, a program of The Salvation Army Belleville Citadel and Ministries, will continue to feed the local community with a $50,000 grant from the City of Belleville.

This is the third year in a row that Belleville Citadel has received Social Infrastructure Funds, which are given by the City of Belleville to not-for-profit organizations that work to improve the lives of people impacted by homelessness, food insecurity and addictions,

The grant is being used by Belleville Ministries to enhance both its mobile food program and to serve meals five days a week to anyone in need of a warm, healthy, and nutritious dinner.

In Belleville, Sally Ann Suppers feeds 150 people each night, with just over 14,000 take-out meals being served in the first five months of 2022, an increase of about 500 meals over the same time last year. In 2021, more than 37,500 people enjoyed a free meal through the program, which is in its third year.

“We started Sally Ann Suppers at the start of the pandemic, because we felt there was a gap in service in being able to receive a daily meal in Belleville,” says Rebekah Leach, who wrote the grant application for The Salvation Army.

“Through The Salvation Army Lunch Program, we were serving meals fours days a week at lunch, but we realized there was no  other community program serving a nutritious meal daily for those who needed one. We felt the need to switch from lunch to supper so that we could support families with children.”

The program is now providing dinner five days a week, with meals being served in Belleville from 4-5:30 pm every day with the exception of  Friday and Sunday, as well as delivering meals to a satellite location in Tweed using a mobile food service truck. Food being served includes meat pies, casseroles, and burritos, along with fruit, snacks, coffee, and water.

“We are so grateful for the continued generous support from Mayor Panciuk and The City of Belleville. Our supper program would not be sustainable without it,” says Connie Goodsell, Director of Community and Family Services in Belleville and Tweed.

“Both the support from The City of Belleville and the community at large is very humbling and we are beyond thankful.”