The Bridgeport Rescue Mission is in "crisis mode" after officials say a walk-in cooler used to serve a half-million meals a year broke down and needs to be replaced.

Every day at the Fairfield Avenue shelter, hundreds of pounds of perishable food must be stored in a walk-in cooler. But since the breakdown last week, officials says they've been using a rented refrigerated truck that's costing them $1,500 a week.

Rescue Mission officials say that rental fee is way more than they can afford and that they need to come up with $40,000 for the new walk-in cooler being delivered soon, as well as the concrete slab on which it rests.

Executive Director Terry Wilcox says hundreds of people depend on the mission's meals every week, so the unexpected crisis has put the entire organization in emergency mode.

Wilcox says the mission has to come up with at least $40,000 in about two weeks, when the new freezer is scheduled to arrive.

The Rescue Mission will hold its annual fundraiser Oct. 4 at the Crowne Plaza in Stamford.