GREENFIELD — Fifteen years is a long time to be cooking, but Stone Soup Café is not done serving meals yet.
The nonprofit, dedicated to fighting food insecurity through pay-what-you-can community meals each Saturday, a home delivery program and a Community Store that provides free groceries and essentials, will mark its 15th anniversary with a celebratory meal on Sunday, June 14, from 4 to 7 p.m. on the Greenfield Common.
Kirsten Levitt, executive director and chef at Stone Soup Cafe, said all are invited to celebrate with food, music and raffles. Awards will also be distributed.
“This organization has always been powered by community,” Levitt said in a written statement. “Hundreds of volunteers, donors, diners, farmers, cooks, musicians, artists and partners have helped create a place where people can experience nourishment, belonging and dignity. This celebration is for everyone who has helped build Stone Soup Café over the last 15 years.”
Stone Soup Café was founded in Montague in 2010 as the “Let All Eat Café” alongside anti-hunger activist Jeff Bridges and Zen Peacemakers founder Bernie Glassman. In its early days, Let All Eat Café fed approximately 25 people through weekly meals at a farm. The café later moved to All Souls Church in Greenfield, and in 2011, Stone Soup Café was born.
“Going from feeding 25 people a week in 2010 to 550 to 600 every Saturday in 2026 is a lot,” Levitt said in a phone interview on Thursday. “It shows the work is real and it’s needed. And we’re happy to do it.”
Levitt said the growth of the café can be attributed to the needs of the community, particularly during and after the pandemic.
“The real reason our numbers exploded and we changed our programming is in response to what our community members were asking for,” Levitt said.
Looking to the future, Levitt said Stone Soup Café plans to continue serving those in need for the next 15 years and then some. Over the next few years, she would like to continue strengthening partnerships with other organizations in the region.
“At Stone Soup, we have really started to rebuild our community coalition and deepen our partnerships with nonprofits and for-profits, so we can really involve all of our community, and so together, we can find solutions for food insecurity,” Levitt said. “What I see us doing 15 years from now … you’re gonna see a Franklin County that is really vibrant because we’re working together to keep everyone fed.”
Food insecurity, defined by the U.S. Department of Agriculture as “a household-level economic and social condition of limited or uncertain access to adequate food,” is a challenge that 48% of households in Franklin and Hampshire counties face, according to a statewide report published by The Greater Boston Food Bank and Mass General Brigham.
Levitt said addressing food insecurity will require everyone working together, and organizations will need to streamline services to ensure everyone can access the aid they need.
She said she hopes that the café will eventually have its own building and be open seven days a week, but she joked she would likely be retired by then.
Levitt said Sunday’s celebration will be a chance to recognize the work of every volunteer who has supported Stone Soup Café’s work so far, and the volunteers who are going to continue the mission.
“We’re gonna have a good time,” Levitt said.
The celebration is free to attend, though Stone Soup Café will be accepting donations.
