Operating a soup kitchen can be very challenging but it also brings daily rewards to its volunteers as they do their part to help alleviate the pain and indignity of hunger.

Mission Possible, available for purchase as a Kindle book on Amazon, gives practical and crucial information on how to raise funds, acquire food, recruit volunteers and all the steps required to open a soup kitchen.

The book should be required reading for any person or group interested in starting a soup kitchen, expanding their existing soup kitchen or adding a hot meal program to their food pantry, overnight shelter or other social service agency. It was written by Irwin Stoolmacher, a longtime consultant for the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen, TASK Board Member Martin Tuchman, and Peter Wise, a former Executive Director of TASK.

Mission Possible is based primarily on the authors’ decades-long, on-the-ground experience running a soup kitchen in Trenton, New Jersey. Since 1982, the Trenton Area Soup Kitchen (TASK) has grown from serving 55,000 meals annually at a single site to a multi-purpose agency serving upwards of 400,000 meals annually at more than 34 locations. TASK offers a variety of programs designed to encourage self-sufficiency and improve the quality of life for its patrons. Its annual budget has grown from $40,000 to well-over $5,000,000 annually. TASK has received the highest four-star rating by Charity Navigator, the leading independent evaluator of charitable organizations in the United States.