BATON ROUGE - On Sunday, the non-profit "It Takes a Village" closed up shop after seven years of service. They served one last meal to those in need.

"I know we're leaving a void in the community and I don't really know what to do about that but, I know it's the right thing for me, the right thing for my children," said Tiffany Simpson, Executive Director of It Takes a Village.

Every Sunday they serve hot meals and hand out clothing to those in need. It's been a huge asset in the area.

"They keep saying what are people going to do and I don't have an answer to that."

Simpson says the past few years have been a struggle to keep the service going following the pandemic in 2020.

"As the economy worsens, we've had so many people who have moved out of state to pursue additional opportunities and we just haven't been able to keep up. We haven't been able to get new volunteers who stay and are able to commit, we haven't been able to get the donations that we were able to get before."

Now, Simpson hopes other organizations will step in and continue to be the helping hand.

"I hope that people who have supported us in the past will continue to support them or even start supporting them because there are going to be organizations who are filling in the gaps for us as far as feeding people."

As for the future of It Takes a Village, Simpson hopes not to be away for too long and serve her community once again.

"I don't see myself staying home forever but taking a few months, breathe and maybe figure out how I can do this in a way that's not weekly and as onerous on my family."