Last Wednesday Community Meal Of 2015

Our last Wednesday Community Meal of 2015 turned out to be pretty great thanks to our wonderful team of dedicated volunteers and some generous food donations.

Three of the entrees that we served today — roast beef, salmon and spiral sliced ham — were donated by two Trinity Episcopal Cathedral parishioners. The premium treats helped make today's meal extra special for our guests. 

Salmon with noodle salad and roasted vegetables.

In addition to the roast beef, salmon and ham, we served meatloaf and teriyaki chicken skewers. There was also soup, salad, dessert and drinks.

One of our volunteers passed on a sweet compliment about the meatloaf from one of our guests. "He said it was delicious and just like his mother's," she told me.  

That made me so happy to hear because our aim is not only feed our guests, it's to please our guests. That extra care is important and what makes the meal at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral thrive. 

We served 331 meals during out two-hour service today which brings the total number of meals served in 2015 to 16,230.  Such a large number proves that we are indeed fulfilling a need in our community and encourages us to keep working in 2016. 

Here are some of our super volunteers who worked hard to make today's meal special for our guests. We truly couldn't do it without them.

John and Linda with the cutest little photobomber, Isla Blue. 

Zane, Nicholas, Sam and Ian.

Dan who served the coffee and hot chocolate in the dining room. We also celebrated his 79th birthday by singing to him.

Sack Lunches And Thanksgiving Preparations

Edible centerpieces for the Community Thanksgiving Meal.

We handed out 215 sack lunches today at The Wednesday Community Meal since we were unable to serve in Kempton Hall due to it being set up for Trinity Episcopal Cathedral's annual Community Thanksgiving Meal.

In addition to the sack lunches that included turkey sandwiches and homemade chocolate chip cookies, we served cups of hot soup and drinks.

Luckily the weather was nice, no rain and in the mid 60's, so our guests were comfortable eating outside. And, as always, they were kind and understanding about the change in service and many said they were looking forward to returning for tomorrow's big meal.

In addition to preparing and serving the sack lunches, community meal volunteers helped with the Thanksgiving preparations by arranging centerpieces, filling candy dishes and making gravy. 

I am so thankful for all the volunteers who work so hard each week. They are a blessing!

One of my jobs today was making gravy. Standing on a stool makes it so much easier to whisk. Plus, it's nice for once to be the tallest person in the kitchen.

Volunteers making sandwiches for the sack lunches. Thank you Nancy for smiling for the camera!

Special Touches

A pretty salad with a sprinkling of chive blossoms.

Serving hundreds during a two hour lunch service at the Wednesday Community Meal means that we pretty much always have a hopping kitchen and dining room. But that doesn't mean we are too busy to skimp on presentation and just shovel out the food.

When guests arrive at our free, everyone is welcome, weekly meal, they are first greeted by our kind maidre'd Michael, and just like in a restaurant, are seated at a table, already set with placemats, napkins and silverware.

Once seated, six to a table, guests are served four courses by volunteer servers — salad, soup, entree and dessert. They are also offered coffee, tea and hot chocolate by our volunteer baristas, Dean and Dan.

Today we served 356 meals and I can honestly say every one was plated with care and had a special touch like a garnish of fresh chives over ribs or a drizzle of cheese sauce over roasted beans. Putting care into the food is important and we are so blessed to have a large team of volunteers who work hard to make our guests feel special.

We also used chives to garnish the ribs we served today.

The salads we served today were especially beautiful and topped with homemade croutons made from bread donated by Grand Central Bakery and a sprinkling of sweet just-picked chive blossoms.

It's wonderful working together as a team to make nice and deserving people feel treated.

Here are some pictures of our great team taken today by volunteer Cheryl who every week makes the desserts for the meal as well as keeps things running smoothly in the dining room.

Our hardworking volunteer baristas, Dean and Dan.

Two members of our super dishwashing team, Kevin and Bill.

Our maitre'd Michael and Fred who is in charge of the whole operation. Fred doesn't just volunteer on Wednesdays, he works pretty much every single day of the week, making sure we have everything we will need for a successful meal. And Michael does more as well, he orders all the food we get from The Oregon Food Bank.

I look forward to seeing my lovely friend Veronica each Wednesday. She comes to eat but also pitches in by busing dishes.

Strawberry Shortcake Social

This Sunday, May 5, volunteers from the Wednesday Community Meal will sell just-baked homemade strawberry shortcake at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (147 NW 19th Ave, Portland, OR 97209) after the 10 a.m. service. 

It's a great time to enjoy a fresh strawberry treat, socialize and support feeding the hungry in our community.

The strawberry shortcake will cost $3 a serving and every penny made goes to support the Cathedral's food ministries. 

Since January 2013,  4,332 lunches have been served at the Wednesday Community Meal and 2,503 bags of food have been handed out (Monday through Saturday 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.). 

What I love most about the program is that everyone is welcome and treated with kindness and respect. 

Besides being a place to get a hot nutritious meal, the Wednesday lunch is a comfortable place to relax and socialize. The meal feeds the spirit as well as the body and that is true for both the volunteers and the guests. 

Please join us this Sunday.

Pretty Potatoes

Purple potatoes, red potatoes and thin skinned yellow potatoes.

The colorful potatoes we served at the Wednesday Community Meal today were as pretty as they were delicious.

Volunteer Kate who has a large garden and is so generous, brought us organic purple potatoes and creamy thin skinned yellow potatoes that she said were closely related to the Yukon Gold. We also had some red potatoes from the Oregon Food Bank.

We seasoned all of the potatoes by simply tossing them with vegetable oil, fresh rosemary, black pepper, garlic and salt and cooked them in a 400 degree oven until they were golden brown.

We served 331 meals today and the first 30 or so guests got a real treat - roasted lamb chops, the colorful potatoes and maple glazed carrots.

For the lamb, we immersed it in a lemon, garlic and rosemary marinade and then cooked it in a very hot 425 degree oven for the first 15 minutes and then reduced the temperature to 325 and cooked it until was tender and falling from the bone.

A lamb chop with roasted potatoes and maple glazed carrots.

Maple glazed carrots.

For the remaining guests we served barbecued chicken thighs and wings, turkey, breaded fish, ribs and chicken breasts. And of course everyone was also offered soup, salad and dessert.

MMM....Onion Rings

We served golden brown and crispy onion rings at the Wednesday Community Meal today thanks to dedicated volunteer Rieko who managed the deep frying and worked so hard.

We don't have any fancy deep fryers in our kitchen so she cooked them on the stove in a deep saucepan. Working for hours, Rieko patiently fried a case and a half of onion rings and every single one was cooked to perfection and loved by our guests. 

One of the reasons they turned out so great is that she made sure the oil was just the right temperature (between 325 and 375 degrees) and she resisted overloading them into the hot oil. Because the temperature of the oil was perfect, the onion rings weren't greasy. They were crisp and delicious.

We served 290 meals today and in addition to the onion rings we served crispy roasted chicken, soup, salad and dessert.

It was a great day.

Oven Roasted Chicken and Crispy Onion Rings

Green Salads

Split Pea Soup