Soup Kitchen Statistics: A Model of How Calculus Can Help Feed the Illinois Homeless

SRC 2000

This study employed several distinct disciplines in mathematics to isolate, examine, and optimize the various costs involved in managing a soup kitchen. “Soup Kitchen Statistics” is a mathematical model illustrating the inverse relationship between the ambient outside temperature and the homeless population of Joliet, IL. The use of calculus revealed key relationships among vital factors, the most important of which included the daily costs of operation as a function of meal attendance dependent on outside temperature. The study produced a realistic and logical mathematical model which enables management personnel at MorningStar Mission to forecast the needs of the kitchen simply by watching the daily weather report. Such a function is a vital necessity for efficient cost management of any organization, particularly those which provide such vital community services for the homeless population.