Charlottetown soup kitchen welcomes clients inside to eat for first time since December

Patrons at a Charlottetown soup kitchen were surprised to have the option of eatinginside Wednesday instead of taking their meals to go.

The Upper Room Soup Kitchenopened its doors for the first time since shutting its dining room down last December when the COVID-19 Omicron variant hit the Island.

The kitchen also ran into maintenance troubles, such as leaking pipes and other plumbing issues, which further delayed reopening.

Now, staff are back serving lunch and dinner inside seven days a week.

"Thankfully, we're here at last," said manager Lorraine Goley.

"We're managing to open back up for dining in for our clients. Very excited. Hope they are too."

The dining room is used to hosting around 60 to 70 people for meals but Goley said the reopening will be a slow start since some are still nervous about the rising COVID-19 cases.

It's a miracle. Robert Frizzell

As the province continues to loosen public health restrictions, Upper Room staff and guests will still be expected to wear masks.

It made sense to continue the mask mandate, said Goley, given the number of people coming and going from the soup kitchen.

'A good thing to happen'

Robert Frizzell is a regular customer who has been coming to the soup kitchen for more than 40 years and was happy to be among the first to eat inside on Wednesday.

He said he doesn't mind wearing the mask even if the province dropped the requirement.

For Frizzell, the soup kitchen has been a place to socialize and receive help for himself and his friends who are homeless.

"It's a miracle, waiting four, five months for it to open up. It's a good thing to happen," he said.

"To eat outside in the cold, the food gets cold pretty quick and eating outside on a bench, but coming here is very convenient and comfortable."