BELTON, Mo. – The woman behind a local non-profit serving food to people in need has been told not to come to one metro city.
Free Hot Soup Kansas City serves food to people in need. The group recently branched out to Belton and Grandview, but this week was told to stop coming to one location.
Members of Free Hot Soup have been stopping by the Welcome Inn in Belton every Wednesday for several months.
Nellie McCool, founder of Free Hot Soup Kansas City, says the group started serving at some extended stay motels in the area in early January.
McCool says many families staying at the motels are between permanent homes. She says the group had been serving about a dozen children and their families at the Welcome Inn.
The group would bring food and sit down for a meal with the families.
McCool says the manager of the Welcome Inn gave the group permission to do the weekly meals.
But after their meal this Wednesday, they were contacted about what they were doing.
"And next thing we know we’re getting messages in our inbox that they’re telling us they’re going to fine us for three thousand dollars and that we need permits or something," said McCool.
McCool says the motel manager was told by the city that Free Hot Soup could be fined.
We spoke to the motel manager who said she did not want to comment on the situation.
We reached out to the city of Belton and have not heard back.
Until the group gets some answers, McCool says their efforts at the Welcome Inn are on hold. She says the people they were feeding are caught in the middle.
"It gave children who have a microwave and a mini fridge a chance to have a hot meal; Not something canned. Not something frozen that needs to be heated up," said McCool.
Shay Jefferson with the Family Resource Center of Cass County says she believes that for a group to be serving food to people in need, they need a special use permit.
However Free Hot Soup says they've never needed a permit in the past.
