Free Lunch Comes at a Cost for City Soup Kitchen Founder

Since its first day of operation in early December, the non-profit kitchen “Buckhunger” has provided nearly 22,00 lunchtime meals to hundreds of needy children and adults for free. There is no record of who comes and goes, and no condition to being fed. If you need more than one plate, it’s yours. … And that’s the kind of impact Mr. Phillips said that he was looking to make when he moved to Cambodia in October looking to start a new life after his retirement. … “So I came here to start a new family; I just didn’t expect it to get this big,” he said, admitting that because he didn’t want to wade through an administrative labyrinth, he isn’t a legally recognized NGO in Cambodia. He also didn’t expect to go broke. With only several thousand dollars left in his personal savings account and only a social security check coming in monthly, Mr. Phillips, a restaurant entrepreneur of 35 years, is afraid he won’t be able to afford his soup kitchen’s monthly expenses much longer, and he could soon be serving his last free lunch. … Ventures like Mr. Phillips’ are risky because they could shutter at any minute, said James Sutherland, international coordinator for communications at Friends International, an NGO that currently trains 115 disadvantaged Cambodian youth in the hospitality industry. “There are very few of these types of enterprises because they are not sustainable,’ Mr. Sutherland said, adding that such operations often lack child protection policies and staff background checks. …