DODGE CITY, Kan.—The food and volunteers for the free weekday meal the First Presbyterian Church has served for nearly four years are running short for the first time, according to the Dodge City Daily Globe. The church is asking for help to keep Friendship Feast from becoming famine.

"For the first time in three and a half years, we are running in the red with Friendship Feast," said the Rev. Dave Clipson, the pastor who leads the feeding program.

Friendship Feast serves mainly indigent people and relies on volunteers and support from the community.

"During the first and second years of operation, we had more volunteers and more community interest in Friendship Feast from various groups," he explained. "In the past, we've had organizations that have done fund-raisers and food drives for us."

But this summer donations and volunteer numbers are down, just as the number of meals served has risen.

"We've been serving between 350 to 400 meals each week," Clipson said. "During the winter, we only serve from 300 to 350 meals a week. The increase in numbers now is due to the number of children out of school for the summer who come to eat."

Clipson also said Friendship Feast feeds a transient population that grows during the warm months of summer.

Friendship Feast does not receive federal or state assistance "because our only qualification is for the person to be hungry," Clipson said. "The idea is not to pass judgment on who is in need, but to give help," he added. "I've heard people say, 'Did you see that vehicle they drove up in?' or 'I saw them at a restaurant or at Wal-Mart.'

"You never know. The person may be late on their medical bills. We had one man who could not cook because he didn't have a stove. He wasn't getting good nutrition because he wasn't getting good food."

Clipson said he would like to continue the program but that Friendship Feast's pressing needs are for volunteers, financial support and food donations.

"We want people to know we are there for them, and there is no obligation. When we started Friendship Feast, our purpose was to feed the stomach and the soul, and that's still our purpose.

"We are grateful to the people of Dodge City who have made this program possible, and we have every belief and confidence that it can continue with the support of the community," he said. "We are a community-driven and supported program."