Bread of Life Ministries is a non-profit, interdenominational Christian charitable ministry, founded in September, 1984 by Carolyn Neighoff and several other dedicated people from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church. They joined together and opened the soup kitchen at 157 Water Street, where it remains today. In 1986, the emergency homeless shelter on Hospital Street was opened. Mr. Roger Gould, a member of Green Street United Methodist Church, created a wheat emblem for us, and that emblem now appears at the top of all our stationery, cards, and banners.
Bread of Life is the only soup kitchen in the Augusta area (including Augusta, Manchester, Hallowell, Chelsea, Vassalboro and Sidney – with a total population of approximately 55,000) and the only general purpose homeless shelter (there is a shelter in Waterville to which we refer people when we are full). The meals we serve at the soup kitchen are the only hot meal some of our clients get each day and for some, it is the only meal. Many of our clients are mentally ill and cannot hold down a full-time job and, therefore, can only afford a one-room efficiency apartment. They may have no place to store food or even the means to cook food. Our mission is to serve the hungry and homeless people in the Augusta area and to provide services that allow people to take accountability for their lives and help them become self-sufficient.
