Stewpot
The Stewpot has been located on the second floor of the First Presbyterian Church in Little Rock since 1972. Stewpot served the first meal to 16 people at a cost of $.99 per meal in 1972. In 2019, it served over 45,000 meals at a cost of $2.75 per meal. There is one full time and one part-time paid employee and 150 volunteers a month from many churches throughout the city providing this service. Westover Hills provides workers for both the 1st and the 3rd Wednesday of each month.
The Stewpot’s primary missions
The primary mission is to Feed the Hungry -“Feed whoever walks through our doors”. The Stewpot is open from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. Monday through Friday of each week providing a hot meal to the homeless, jobless, elderly, physically or mentally disabled and displaced families in the Greater Little Rock area. The Little Rock Stewpot has served over 1.5 million meals in the last 47 years.
Secondary Mission
The secondary mission is to provide clothing and hygiene products to folks in need. The Clothes Closet is open every Thursday from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. and is staffed mostly by volunteers.
Third Mission
A third mission is to offer Free Medical Services to the sick. The Baptist Health Community Clinic is held weekly at the Stewpot. Nurses come to the Stewpot each Friday from 12:00 pm – 1:00 pm. Volunteer physicians, along with two volunteer pharmacists, offer free medical care and prescription medications on the third Thursday of each month. Free.
Stewpot Routine
Each day at Stewpot is covered by a team of workers. Teams typically work a specific day of the month, i.e., 1st, 2d, 3rd or 4th Monday of each month, 1st, 2d, 3rd or 4th Tuesday of each month, etc. Each team consists of a Captain or sometimes Co-captains and a team of 6-8 members. The captains are responsible for cooking the meal and typically prepare a similar meal for their day of the month. The team members perform various jobs, i.e., serve the food, serve seconds, prepare and serve desserts and help clean up. Seconds consist of a different type of food, oftentimes food left over from the day before and is usually served from a separate station in the main dining room.
Pastries are picked up daily from the Community Bakery in downtown Little Rock by a team member. These pastries are usually from the day before and are provided at no cost to the Stewpot.
To see a short video about the Little Rock Stewpot, click on Stewpot video below:
Stewpot Video