By Staff
NEW BUILDING Nita Neville, left, Gladys Ridgeway, Ruth Vinson Irwin and Jennie Gaither who help coordinate, manage and run LOVE's Kitchen look over plans Tuesday for a new building on 18th Avenue that will house their organization. LOVE's Kitchen, 1914 18th Ave. on the grounds of St. Joseph's Catholic Church, supplies three meals a day to anyone who needs to eat. Photo by Kyle Carter/The Meridian Star
By Steve Gillespie / staff writer
Aug. 20, 2003
Lauderdale Outreach and Volunteer Effort Inc., better known as LOVE's Kitchen, is working to expand and relocate.
A volunteer committee has been established to work on plans to construct a new building on land donated by the city of Meridian.
Ruth Irwin, spokesman for LOVE's Kitchen, made the announcement Tuesday during a news conference at the charity's current location on the grounds of St. Joseph's Catholic Church on 18th Avenue.
Plans for the building have been drawn up by Luke &Kaye Architects.
The building committee includes: Amy Jacob, Dianne Culpepper, Jimmy Covington, Pete Terry, Clint McElroy, Robert Smith, Melissa Gordon Pringle, Father Mike Dobrosky, Father Edward O'Connor, Bob Luke and Ronnie Massey.
Robert Smith, owner of Glass Inc., said requests for help will be made to the Meridian Home Builders Association.
Smith said businesses will be asked to donate building materials as soon as the committee figures out what is needed.
Irwin said the kitchen is running low on supplies and space. She said the ministry, which originally served about 275 people per day, now serves about 420 people per day.
Local land developer and consulting engineer Jimmy Covington, Clint McElroy, owner of McElroy Mechanical and Environmental, and Pete Terry, owner of Construction Services Inc., said they joined the project to help people and to give something back to their community.
Mayor John Robert Smith said the city has offered property on the east side of 18th Avenue, near Sowashee Creek that he said would allow more efficiency and more accessibility to those in need.
He said the city council wants approval from the Mississippi Attorney General's office to make sure its donation of land to the project is OK.