WATERVILLE (AP) — A Waterville soup kitchen that’s been serving up meals to the area’s homeless for more than three decades may be forced to close because of money troubles.

Director Dick Willette said Monday he had planned to close the kitchen in the basement of Sacred Heart Church for good Sept. 1, but a recent plea for donations generated enough money to pay the trash removal and phone bills.

What happens after that date is up in the air.

Willette told the Morning Sentinel his budget for 2011 was $25,000, but he took in only $22,000 and spent $28,000.

He said companies that used to regularly donate food and money have stopped because of the recession.

The kitchen opened in 1980 and serves 75 to 120 people every day.