Soup Kitchen Partners with Leading Restaurant Design Company to Go Green

Cathedral Kitchen, an organization that provides 8,000 meals each month to the poor and hungry in Camden, N.J., has partnered with DAS Architects, based in Philadelphia, to create an environmentally friendly soup kitchen to open in mid-October 2008.

Designed to achieve the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED certified status upon completion, the new facility will conserve energy and water in order to lower operating costs and reduce waste sent to landfills.

From "green" ideas for saving energy and dollars, to efficient kitchen and dining room set-up, the soup kitchen will benefit from DAS Architects' design expertise in restaurant and hospitality projects.

Cathedral Kitchen, the largest congregate feeding program in Camden, has been serving meals to the poor and hungry since 1976.

Most recently, the nonprofit has operated out of the gymnasium of the former Camden Catholic High School at Broadway and Federal streets, with all food operations contained to a closet-sized kitchen.

The new Cathedral Kitchen site, located at 1514 Federal Street, will be two times larger than the existing site with approximately 14,872 square feet of space, featuring a 2,500-square-foot commercial kitchen and dining room with space for 288 diners per seating.