Project Host Celebrates Re-Opening After COVID-19 Closure

Greenville, SC – June 30, 2021 – Project Host today announced that it will be re-opening its facilities for full in-person dining on July 4, 2021. The nonprofit organization runs several free meal and training programs, including a soup kitchen that serves lunch to 80-120 community members per day. While Project Host has continued to serve meals every day since the COVID-19 lockdowns of early 2020, the organization’s dining hall has been closed to everyone other than staff and volunteers since last March.

Beginning on the holiday weekend, Project Host will once again open its doors to soup kitchen guests in order to provide refuge from the summer heat and offer the sense of camaraderie among guests and volunteers that has been missing for the past year. “We are eager to see a full return to normal operations at Project Host, and our volunteers feel the same,” says Project Host CEO Tobin Simpson. “While we are proud of the fact that we never missed a single day of service throughout the pandemic, to-go meals simply don’t foster the same relationships that in-person dining does. Furthermore, in closing our dining room, we know our guests have had to endure the winter’s cold, spring rains, and now summer heat with limited access to shelter, and we want to be a place where they can rest, have access to bathroom facilities, and recharge.”

The dining hall will open with several precautions in place, including a mask requirement for all staff and volunteers throughout service and for all guests passing through the serving line. Additional cleaning and sanitation measures will also be implemented in order to ensure the safety of all individuals entering the Project Host facility.

The wider Greenville community is invited to celebrate this re-opening with Project Host on July 15 from 5-7PM, when the full building will be open to visitors. Stations throughout the facility will provide food tastings and offer information on each of the nonprofit’s six programs. More information can be found at www.projecthost.org/special-event