VALDOSTA — Alonzo Butler of Valdosta doesn’t know where his next lunch is coming from.

“We’ll just have to go to when the churches serve (meals),” he said.

Thursday, Butler was standing outside the Community Soup Kitchen, located at 601 N. Lee St. in the old Leila Ellis Elementary School building.

For decades, those in need who had nowhere else to go could get a lunch there. No more.

A sign on the door said that after Dec. 21, the kitchen would be closed “indefinitely.”

The building is owned by Lowndes County, but the soup kitchen was operated by an independent non-profit group, said Paige Dukes, county manager.

She said that “what is left” of the soup kitchen’s governing board contacted her and said that the health and age of their members mean they cannot continue.

“After nearly 50 years, this is definitely a decision they made with heavy hearts,” Dukes said.

Butler said patrons were told “a good week ago” about the closure; the reason given was that funds were running low, he said.

Also standing outside the soup kitchen Thursday was Bruce Woods, a Florida man who said he often came over the state line for the free meal.

“This is going to affect me a great deal” because he has nowhere else to go for a lunch, Woods said. “They never asked where I was from.”

About 100-150 people received a free meal each weekday of a sandwich, soup, dessert and fresh fruit when it was available, said Jane Osborn, a retired social worker who had been part of the South Georgia Coalition to End Homelessness.

“There are a lot of low-income people in the community who can’t get food,” she said.

The kitchen had three part-time employees who all wanted to retire, Dukes said.

The soup kitchen had an annual budget around $100,000, she said.

The Leila Ellis building also hosts misdemeanor probation services, Dukes said, and there are plans to expand programs for those in need.

No one has come forward with an offer to relaunch the soup kitchen at a new location, she said.

County officials hoped to meet Thursday afternoon with anyone who might want to help get the kitchen back on its feet. Butler said he would be there.

“I work at the Southside Recreation Center Tuesdays and Thursdays, I’m a good volunteer … if they need me, I’ll come here and help open it back up,” he said.

The local food bank Second Harvest of South Georgia doesn’t expect a major impact on its work.

“We don’t anticipate there being much of an impact on our operations other than some possible increased traffic for our partner agencies,” said Eliza R. McCall, chief programming officer for Second Harvest. “There are enough established pantries, sprograms, and Kids Cafe sites in Valdosta to help mitigate any issues caused by the closing. Second Harvest will, of course, work with our partners and sites to help them keep pace with any increased demand.”

In 1982, at an ecumenical Thanksgiving service, the Rev. Dwyn Mounger of First Presbyterian Church spoke about the growing number of hungry people on the Valdosta streets, according to past news coverage. The Rev. Jackie Gardner of Park Avenue United Methodist Church, along with a small number of volunteers, researched the feasibility of a soup kitchen.

“Back then, they really needed one,” Ralph Bridges, the soup kitchen’s president from 1983-2008, said in a 2009 interview. “Between 350 and 450 people per day were coming to eat here.”

On March 22, 1983, the Community Soup Kitchen officially opened in the Bethel CME Church on Johnson Street and fed 11 people that day.

In a year, the kitchen grew and had to relocate to a larger and permanent place. The community helped renovate the lunchroom of the old Leila Ellis School, which is the kitchen’s current location.