A Busy Fifth Wednesday

Our team of color coordinated super servers. It was just a fluke that they all came dressed in shades of violet today.

The Wednesday Community Meal usually sees a spike in the number of guests we serve towards the end of the month so we knew we would be busy today with it being a rare fifth Wednesday. And, we were right. The line of guests waiting for our doors to open looped around the block.

We served 397 meals today and needed every single one of our amazing kitchen and dining room volunteers. The first guests in the door were treated to oven roasted chicken, rice, sauteed kale and watermelon along with soup, salad and dessert.

A meal of roasted chicken, rice, kale and watermelon.

Crisp green salads made with produce donated by Spring Hill Organic Farm in Albany, Food Front Cooperative Grocery in Hillsdale and longtime volunteer Kate.

A scene from today's busy kitchen. There would be no meal without our dedicated volunteers.

Volunteer Sierra cutting onions that came from The Oregon Food Bank. Working on her own, she cut 15 pounds of onions and didn't cry once thanks to a trick I had never heard of until today. She held a spoon in her mouth as she worked. She told me she learned of the trick from a teacher at school.