After being forced to close more than a month ago, the Lord’s Diner appears ready to reopen its doors, possibly as early as May 10.

The Diner, which provided food and other essential items to the county’s homeless population at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in East Bremerton, has only the signing of its Letter of Agreement with the church before it can officially begin serving those in need once more.

The plan is for things to stay the way they were with the same hours of operation, Saturdays and Sundays serving meals between 3 and 5:30 p.m.

“The main obstacles were getting liability insurance, renewing the non-profit status of the diner with the state and the IRS, expanding the Diner Board membership and electing officers, and writing and signing a new Letter of Agreement between St. Paul’s and the Diner, and the Diner managing its own financial affairs,” said St. Paul’s church member JoAnn Winesdorfer, who has been part of the team working to reopen the Diner.

As of Wednesday the Letter of Agreement hadn’t been signed, but Winesdorfer said the hope is that it will be signed in the near future.

“We are hoping that the Diner will be on firmer footing from here on out,” she said. “One unanticipated blessing from the closure of the Diner has been an outpouring of community support, thanks to the publicity about the closing from the newspapers.”

Many people have come forth with offers of help, and the Diner has received some generous anonymous contributions which paid for the liability insurance policy and has helped with other necessary expenses, she said, adding that the Diner will need to depend on the community for ongoing financial support.

“Everyone who has worked on this project wants to see the Diner back in operation as soon as possible, because we feel there is a need for this service, inasmuch as there is no feeding program on the weekends in Kitsap County,” she said. “The Salvation Army serves meals during the week, and other organizations serve evening meals certain weekdays of the month.”

After the Diner has been back in operation for a few weeks and is operating smoothly, they hope to have a grand re-opening celebration, but no date has been set for that yet.

Those who want to help can call St. Paul’s Church at (360) 377-6016 and leave a message or call the Peebles family at (360) 377-2915 or (253) 474-9770.