DENTON — Every day this winter, Market Street Public House will be serving free soup for anyone in needed through a drive-through-like sliding window.
According to owner Brian Tyler, serving free soup has been a goal of the pub’s for a couple of years.
“We had tried for a few years to do this primarily through the local churches, but we really weren’t getting the bang for the buck that we were hoping for,†Tyler said. “... So, with this, we did the soup window with hopes that we we can reach a larger audience.â€
The program was not necessarily supposed to coincide with the government shutdown and potential cut of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits earlier this month, Tyler said. But as SNAP faced an uncertain future, the free soup became a much needed resource for the community.
Gov. Wes Moore declared a state of emergency on Oct. 30 due to shutdown of SNAP benefits for nearly 680,000 Marylanders.
The lapse in SNAP benefits came as a result of a stalemate in the Senate to pass a resolution to continue to fund the federal government, which led to a 43-day government shutdown.
The shutdown has since been resolved. Government employees returned to work on Thursday, and SNAP funds have been restored. But the situation highlighted growing food insecurity on the Eastern Shore.
Cheryl Beulah, executive director of Denton-based food pantry Aaron’s Place, said many families on the Shore had been food insecure long before SNAP benefits were in flux.
“If you were someone who was a dollar over qualified (for SNAP), you still had to try to feed yourself no matter what,†Beulah said. “On the Shore as a whole, one in four families are food insecure.â€
Beulah said it is important for food banks and restaurants around the Eastern Shore to work together to continue to help families regardless of SNAP benefits.
“I think it’s extremely important,†Beulah said. “I think places like the pub, restaurants that can give out free meals, I think it’s extremely important in trying to feed people.â€
The pub is located at 200 Market Street in Denton. Soup is offered from 10 to 11 a.m. Monday through Saturday and from 11 a.m. to noon on Sunday.
Tyler stated that no one will be judged for coming to received free soup at the drive-through-style window on the South Street side of the building.
“We put the soup window there in hopes that we could get a lot more people to come by and and order,†Tyler said. “The cool thing is we don’t ask any questions. If you have a kid at home that’s hungry, you don’t have to be homeless, you don’t have to be super poor, you just have to be someone in need, and that’s the idea.â€
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