My Friends Forever

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral's Wednesday Community Meal is very special. It's a place full of love and compassion, where friends work side by side to prepare and serve a meal to friends in need.

Everyone is invited inside to sit, relax and eat.  The meal is free, no questions asked and everyone is treated with kindness and respect.

It's been an important part of my life since 2004. In the beginning it was just my friend Fred and I handing out sack lunches. Later, with Trinity's support, it evolved to be a hot lunch in a take out box and finally in 2008, a four course meal served inside beautiful Kempton Hall.

Inviting our guests inside changed everything. It was the right thing to do. It enabled us to spend more time with our guests and we got to know and love them. They are real people. They are fathers, mothers, daughters and sons and they shouldn't have to suffer.  They deserve to eat and enjoy delicious and nutritious food and they deserve respite from the heat in the summer and the cold in the winter. 

Today was my last day at the meal and I am going to miss everyone so much. Volunteering has enriched my life in so many ways. I feel incredibly blessed to have been able to be a part of such a special program. Being with my friends each Wednesday is something I looked forward to and something I will miss terribly.

I am moving to Connecticut in June with my family but I will never forget my family at The Wednesday Community Meal.


Here are my teammates who served 287 meals today:

Linda

Ione

Tiffany

Mary

Jay

Steve

Linda

Barbara

Sandy

Veronica

Craig (He's always making us laugh.)

Frank, Barbara, Helen and Diane

Bill and Kevin

Dave

Fred

Cindy

Martha

John and Leah

Dan and Dean

Virgina

Anne

Kate

Gwen

Davis

Ann

Vicky and Joyce

Mary (She has been such a wonderful support to me. Mary is the very first volunteer to arrive and gets us started each week, moving our ingredients from our downstairs pantry into the kitchen.)

Dishwasher Appreciation

Our super dishwashing team in a photo taken a few weeks ago, in happier times. Clockwise from the back left is Steve, Jay, Bill, Kevin and Dave.

No one works harder at The Wednesday Community Meal than our team of volunteer dishwashers. Every Wednesday, they are among the first to arrive and the very last to leave.

Early in the morning, at 7:30 a.m., the pots and pans from the meal preparations start heading their way. And then, once the meal is served at 11 a.m., things get even busier because it's bus tub after bus tub of dirty dishes and silverware in addition to more pots and pans.

They are invaluable and I am grateful for their hard work and dedication.

Especially after today, I owe Bill, Jay, Dave, Steve, Kevin and Joe a debt of gratitude.

You see, we served ribs, lots of delicious ribs, ten pans full. We baked the ribs in a tomatoeye sauce and after such a long time in the oven, the pans were a real mess. The ribs were delicious, but the pans were atrocious and took lots of extra time and effort to clean.

I really wouldn't have blamed the dishwashers if they walked off the job and right out the door.  Thankfully, they didn't. They were really nice and I owe them big time and no sticky food next week.

We served 354 meals today.

Breakfast For Lunch

Dining room volunteers Helen and Virgina with today's "breakfast".

Guests at today's Wednesday Community Meal ate breakfast for lunch and they loved it!

We served slices of homemade frittata that were filled with chunks of roasted red potatoes, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini, tomato and onion, lean bacon, warm biscuits and fruit salad.

A meal ready to be served.

The colorful fruit salad was made and donated by volunteer Elizabeth. It was so generous of her to make it for us and she couldn't have picked a better day. It really went perfect with all of our other breakfast items. 

Fruit salad closeup.

The premium applewood smoked bacon that we served was Nueske's brand and was donated to us by SP Provision. The smell and the taste really made our guests happy. Everyone got at least three pieces, but there was an exception.

"Heidi, do you think I could get an extra piece of that bacon and a biscuit to go?," asked one of our regular guests as he was leaving.

I obliged since it's always my preference to say "yes" whenever possible. When life is hard, little pleasures mean so much. Plus, it was a joy to see his big smile when I said "you got it" and handed the extra food to him.

We served 488 meals during our two hour service at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and we couldn't have done it without all of our dedicated volunteers who gleaned, cooked, served and cleaned. Thank you!

Friends At Work

We were fortunate to have Catherine's help serving in the dining room. Today is her 10th birthday and she chose to celebrate it by coming in to help. Now,  how did we get so lucky?

One of the best things about volunteering at The Wednesday Community Meal is that I get to work with my friends each week.

The aim of the free meal at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral is always to serve hospitality and a delicious and nutritious meal to those in need. But, who says you can't also have some fun while you work?

It's such a joy each week to work among smiling volunteers and hear lots of chatter and laughter. One of my favorite sounds in the whole world is hearing volunteers and longtime friends Martha and Leah visiting and giggling. Their glee is infectious. Hearing them happy, makes me happy.

You know, I believe friendship just may be secret sauce that makes our meal program thrive.

It was a joy spending time with my friends today and helping to serve 290 meals.

Most of the guest today got homemade chicken enchiladas and roasted red potatoes that we topped with a bit of cheese sauce.

Three of my favorite people, Linda, Steve and Leah. Steve is part of our super dishwashing team and he was putting away pans when I told Linda and Leah to grab him for a quick picture. They are great!

Patiently Waiting

Catherine and Helen were part of today's great team of dining room volunteers. They worked nonstop, serving 418 meals in two hours!

Today, just like the last three Wednesdays, a man was already in line for the community meal when I entered Trinity Episcopal Cathedral to start cooking.

I always arrive before 7:30 a.m. and the meal doesn't even start until 11 a.m., so he had a very long wait ahead of him.

The first Wednesday I saw him waiting by the door,  I said, "good morning" and asked him if I could bring him a cup of coffee.

"Oh yes please," he said and when I returned with the cup of coffee and a Starbucks pastry he said, "God bless you lady."

Now that we've encountered each other three times, we know each other by name and I know just how Alfred likes his coffee.

"Hello, it's good to see you," I said to him this morning. "I'll be right out with your cup of coffee and I remember that you like it with sugar." He gave me a really big smile.

Alfred's sweet and grateful response is one of the reasons I love volunteering. Treating nice people just makes you feel good. Soon there were others waiting behind him and when the doors finally opened at 11 a.m. there was a very long line for the free for everyone meal.

Being the last Wednesday of the month, we were expecting a big crowd and we were right. We served 418 meals today.

One of today's most popular and colorful entrees was barbecued ribs with mashed sweet potatoes, tomatoes and blueberries. The ribs were donated by Good Samaritan Hospital and the blueberries and sweet potatoes were picked up by our gleaners from The Oregon Food Bank.

Homemade Lasagna

When you glean fresh pasta sheets from two local businesses, how can you resist not making homemade lasagna? Fresh pasta isn't something we regularly pick up.

And, also knowing that I had two cases of Cascade Farms Beef still in the freezer really sealed the deal.

Yes, making lasagna for today's Wednesday Community Meal at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral felt meant to be.

The pasta donations from Phil's Uptown Meat Market and New Seasons Market and the beef from SP Provisions couldn't have come at a better time. It's the Wednesday before Valentine's Day and we wanted to treat our guests to an extra special meal. It worked out perfectly.

Of course we also served soup, salad, dessert and drinks. We served 283 meals today

A lasagna meal.

We have such a great team of hardworking volunteers who help pull the meal off each week. Anne has been a regular and dedicated volunteer since the beginning and I am grateful.

Super Sweet Potatoes

When I spotted Dean, our volunteer dining room barista, by the kitchen window, I couldn't resist convincing him to pose for a quick picture.  I love his smile and positive energy.  Serving coffee and hot chocolate nonstop for two hours straight is hard work.

It was a busy day at The Wednesday Community Meal. We served 395 meals during our two hour service and everyone who came to eat received a delicious and well-balanced meal.

One of the highlights of the meal were the roasted and mashed sweet potatoes that we served as a side dish. The potatoes came from the Oregon Food Bank and volunteer Kate suggested and took on preparing them my now new favorite way.

Prepping potatoes usually eats up a lot of time, so to make things easier, Kate suggested we just wash, cut them in half and bake them cut side down on a parchment lined sheetpan. Her method worked worked like a charm. The potatoes were soft and caramelized when we pulled them out of the oven and then all we had to do was let them cool for a bit and scoop out the sweet flesh.

Then we mashed them with a bit of butter, salt, pepper and fresh parsley. They were soooo gooood!

The sweet potatoes after baking.

After the baked potatoes cooled for a bit, it was easy to scoop the flesh out of the skin. Look at that caramelized goodness! I love Kate's method!

Our main entrees today were pork loin, barbecue chicken, chicken curry, baked fish, chili rellenos, vegetarian lasagna and hot dogs. We had to change our menu in order to utilize all of the week's gleaned food. Making do with what we get is a challenge that keeps us on our toes, but it is the right thing to do because we save perfectly good food from going to waste.

A meal of roasted pork loin, mixed rice, roasted zucchini and tomato. We always strive to serve meals that are both nutritious and delicious.

I also have to give a special shout out to longtime and very dedicated volunteers Leah and Martha. They were absolutely indispensable in the kitchen today. We were short on volunteers so unassisted, they prepared and dished up every single bowl of soup and plate of salad that left the kitchen today. They worked nonstop for more than five hours and just wow! —I am so grateful.

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.

Holiday Treats

Besides being served a well-rounded hot lunch,  today's Wednesday Community Meal guests also got to enjoy live holiday music and were given gift bags filled with toiletries, socks, gloves and scarves.

The music was courtesy of Sandy Norcross, our wonderful and dedicated volunteer piano player, and the gift bags were put together by Trinity Episcopal Cathedral fifth graders who collected donations. Both of these special holiday treats were greatly appreciated by our guests.

Like the the rest of the week, it rained heavily today which kept many of our regular guests who have housing, away from the meal. Those who joined us were primarily the homeless, and they trekked through awful wet weather to attend.

When one of our regular volunteers came in early this morning to help she told me there were three men already in line and that they looked cold and down and suggested that it would be nice to bring them each a hot drink. It was a great idea and when we handed them cups of steaming hot chocolate, they were very pleased. Sometimes small treats can make a big difference.

We served 289 meals.

We were lucky to have extra help in the dining room today from many young volunteers who were on break from school.

Craig and Dan (a.k.a Santa) were our coffee and hot chocolate baristas in the dining room today.

Scarlett helped pass out peppermint candies to guests.

Today's lunch of homemade chili, potatoes and roasted tomatoes.

After eating, guests bus their own dishes. Look at those clean plates!