"My young son passed away a few months ago when he was 27," Sandra Carter, 65, said as she sat down to lunch. "So for me this is a reason to get out of the house."

Mrs Carter is one of about 30 people who rely on the kitchen for two meals a day, three times a week.

It's a mixed crowd. There are people with profound disabilities. Some have suffered trauma and abuse. Some are ex-inmates and drug addicts. Others are just down on their luck. Most are long-term unemployed.

What they have in common is a need for help.

Scott Richards, 47, from Tregear, rode his bike two kilometres in the rain last Thursday, to eat and meet friends at the kitchen.

"It lessens the burden of having to prepare yourself lunch," he said.

"You don't save much but you save enough to get through."

And the meals are worth the trouble of getting wet. "The food is good," Mr Richards said. "We eat spaghetti bolognaise, sausage rolls, and we had a Christmas in July with baked chicken and vegies."

The bulk of the food is donated by Woolworths and the hall is provided rent free by Blacktown Council. The kitchen is staffed by volunteers and people assigned to "work-for-the-dole".

Skye Emanuel, 22, from St Clair, was reluctantly sent to work at the kitchen by Centrelink. Thursday was her second day serving meals.

"Truthfully, I was quite scared to come here," she said. "But it isn't as bad as I thought.

"The people, they may not have had the best lives but they're still here. Some of them scare me but I'm getting into it."

Another volunteer, Ray Gordon, has a little more life experience than Ms Emanuel.

He said the kitchen brought together neighbours who were once too scared to talk to each other.

"Everyone needs a bit of help," he said.

Lethbridge Park is heavily populated by public housing tenants and it is those residents who rely on the kitchen.

The department of housing has sponsored the kitchen for five years but the program's organisers believe that funding is now in doubt.

Tony Benjamin, from NGO Skill Power, has overseen the community kitchen since it started.

He said the community would be devastated if funding were to be cut and the kitchen had to close its doors.

"We're not certain the Department of Housing funds will continue next financial year," he said. "That puts us in a spin because we need those funds to operate."