SOUP KITCHEN SERVES LAST SUPPER: [SPORTS FINAL Edition]

Abstract

Keith and 50 others said goodbye to the Lamb's Table, a food program set up by the Lamb's Church of the Nazarene in the Lamb's Club building near Times Square.

"We don't look at it as a soup kitchen, but as dining in a restaurant," said Keith, 47, a street vendor who has eaten for eight years in the historic wood-paneled room where Fred Astaire once dined.

KEITH BEDFORD FAREWELL Liz Herbert, director of the Lamb's Table, says goodbye to colleagues yesterday at last meal served at W. 44th St. soup kitchen. The Lamb's Church of the Nazarene, which runs food program, closed and will move to a new location.

Tommy Keith got a heap of baked ziti and a side of sadness yesterday.

Keith and 50 others said goodbye to the Lamb's Table, a food program set up by the Lamb's Church of the Nazarene in the Lamb's Club building near Times Square.

"We don't look at it as a soup kitchen, but as dining in a restaurant," said Keith, 47, a street vendor who has eaten for eight years in the historic wood-paneled room where Fred Astaire once dined.

The church and its soup kitchen have closed and are moving - a victim of Times Square redevelopment. The church leased the land to the Hampshire Hotel Group, which will renovate the property and build a hotel. Once construction is complete in about two years, the church will reopen its offices and conduct services in a section of the new hotel.

"This building is old, and there are many fire and safety code violations," said Pastor John Bowen. "The partnership gives us revenue with which we can expand the range of services we offer."

The soup kitchen will reopen May 1 at a converted Brooklyn lumber yard that will double its capacity to serve meals and offer training classes.

Liz Herbert, director of the Lamb's Table, said she needs to raise more than $20,000 to buy kitchen equipment for the new facility. She also hopes to buy new computers for the classes.

But new and better facilities weren't on people's minds yesterday.

"We're all heartbroken, and we're putting up a front," said Rosemarie Ocevedo, 47, a volunteer cook from Hell's Kitchen.

"I got motivated, trusted and I got my dignity back," she said of her days eating and cooking for some 90 regular visitors at the Lamb's Table.

For people such as James Mills, 25, a midtown bike messenger, the loss of the Lamb's Table will force him to skip lunch every other day because he can't afford to spend $5 for a daily midday meal.

"This is the only soup kitchen I go to," he said. "The food is so- so, but the people are nice."

Before yesterday's last lunch, visitors chatted quietly, prayed and discussed Scripture. They also talked fondly of Herbert, who they said had helped them with bus fare or even given them food to take home to a sick friend.

"That's the main thing I'll miss," Keith said. "She deserves an Oscar."

Illustration

Caption: KEITH BEDFORD FAREWELL Liz Herbert, director of the Lamb's Table, says goodbye to colleagues yesterday at last meal served at W. 44th St. soup kitchen. The Lamb's Church of the Nazarene, which runs food program, closed and will move to a new location.