Just two blocks off Monument Square in Portland, Maine, downhill from the public library, sits a squat, gray flatiron building. Inside is a soup kitchen that has provided three meals a day, every day, to hungry Mainers in its oft-crowded dining room for more than 39 years. The staff is welcoming, the location is central, and it’s nearly impossible to get kicked out. The buffet-style spreads include loaded chef salads and heaps of bread, vegetarian options, and hearty casseroles built to nullify the New England cold. Most important, there’s always dessert.
Since 1980, Preble Street has been the linchpin of the city’s response to homelessness and food insecurity — and a life-sustaining resource for thousands. Joe Conroy is the senior director of food programs and operations at the agency that operates the eponymous soup kitchen. Leveraging a complex food-rescue and -donation system, his team churns out some 24,000 meals a month served in a cafeteria-style dining room. On any given day, anything from a pallet of B&M baked beans to a five-gallon bucket of dayboat scallops might become the featured ingredient.