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Churches on the Streets may have served its last hot supper. At least for now.

The city Health Department on Monday told organizers of the group that serves food to the homeless Monday nights at a vacant train depot near the St. Louis riverfront that they must stop serving hot food because they don't have a permit.

The city's edict came a day after the group was featured on the front page of the Post-Dispatch. The group has been providing home-cooked meals, clothing and supplies to the homeless for more than a year. Before each meal, Edward "Pastor Paul" Gonnella, a recovered crack addict and ex-convict, delivers short sermons to the homeless in hopes getting them off the streets.

Organizers thought they didn't need a permit to serve food because they have been meeting at the old Cotton Belt Rail Depot, which is private property.

Not so, says Pat Mahoney, an environmental health supervisor with the city Health Department. She said the group must have a permit to serve hot food to the public even though its volunteers are doing it on private property. She said the group is allowed to distribute pre-packaged meals.

"They're doing a good thing, they really are," Mahoney said. "It's because they're serving the public. The moment you start inviting the public to attend, that's when we get into it."

Mahoney said the city considers the group's activities different from other outdoor gatherings, such as a tailgate party before Rams football games, because those are more private in nature and aren't inviting the public. Churches that host fish frys also must have permits.

The Health Department was unaware of the group's Monday night gatherings until the Post-Dispatch published its story Sunday, Mahoney said.

Churches on the Streets had been planning to serve hot meals Monday night, as it has for more than a year, but changed course after Mahoney told the group it was violating a city ordinance by serving hot food.

Gonnella said the turkey pot pie and salmon bowtie pasta that the group had already prepared was stored. Instead, volunteers handed out food bags with fruit and packaged items such as crackers and yogurt.

The Health Department's edict disappointed Frank Meyer, 57, who was among those who came to the train depot Monday night.

"Some of these people here are really hungry, and a hot meal helps them through the week," said Meyer, who lives in a tent in woods near Interstate 70.

Group organizer Angela Valdes told the Post-Dispatch she is frustrated because she said someone from the city told them they didn't need a permit because they were serving on private property.

"It is what it is," Valdes said. "It's frustrating that not everybody is on the same page when you talk to a government office, but it happens."