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.

Carrots, Carrots And More Carrots

The Wednesday Community Meal Carrot Team: Ann, Davis, Terri, Linda and Madeline.

There were lots of carrots at today's Wednesday Community Meal.

There were carrots in the salads, roasted carrots as a side dish and carrot ginger cake for dessert.

I am thankful for the wonderful volunteers who spent a large chunk of today's prep time, in the corner of the kitchen, peeling and slicing the pounds and pounds of carrots that our gleaners picked up from The Oregon Food Bank.

It was especially tedious work because the carrots were small and some even came in unusual shapes which made them difficult to peel.

For fun and motivation, volunteer Linda, who has a great sense of humor and is so clever, lined up the more interesting carrots on the window sill above the work station.

 "It's a carrot family," she said.

It even looked like they were waving, being friendly and encouraging us to keep on peeling.

We served 284 meals today.

The friendly carrot family.

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!

An Early Easter Meal

We had an early Easter celebration today at The Wednesday Community Meal and served an extra special entree of mustard-glazed pork loin and crispy oven-roasted potatoes.

Usually we have to change our menu multiple times to utilize the ingredients we glean, but today we served the same entree throughout our entire two-hour lunch service.

The ingredients for the meal were donated by Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and our guests were very appreciative and complimentary.

Just out of the oven, mustard-glazed pork loin.

Also receiving raves was a homemade horseradish sauce that we added to the plates. One guest even asked me for the recipe — It's just sour cream, horseradish sauce, fresh parsley, salt and black pepper mixed together. Super easy and really delicious!

We served 377 meals today.

Volunteers John and Mary came in early at 7 a.m. to help with all the tedious prep work. In the foreground are the pork loins that we cooked today.

Davis assembled the oven s'mores that we served for dessert and he sliced all of the pork loins that we served.

My daughter Eleanor with our friend Bob, who was so sweet and brought us each a box of Easter chocolate. Eleanor has known Bob her entire life. I first met Bob a little over 16 years ago when I began volunteering at the Trinity Food Pantry and Eleanor was a newborn baby, strapped to me in her baby carrier.

Many Meals

Longtime community meal volunteer Mary Ann with a meatloaf meal. She and all of the other dining room volunteers are amazing! Serving nonstop for two hours is hard work but they do it while smiling and taking the time to visit with our guests and make them feel welcome.

It was another very busy day at the Wednesday Community Meal. We served 372 meals during our two hour service at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Northwest Portland.

The entrees we served were meatloaf, pork spare ribs, pork short ribs, enchiladas, chile rellenos and vegetarian lasagna. It's typical that we change our menu at least three or four times during the meal because that's just what you have do do when you utilize gleaned and donated food to feed a crowd.

The pork short ribs were particularly popular with today's guests and were actually short rib trimmings that were donated by SP Provisions. We seasoned them with chili powder, cumin, garlic, salt and oregano, moistened them with a bit of tomato sauce and cooked them long and slow until they were very very tender. The meat pieces might not have been uniform in size but they were darn delicious and there were many requests for seconds.

In additon to the entrees, there was soup, salad and dessert — a full four-course meal,  free to everyone, no questions asked.

One of the side dishes we served today was roasted red potatoes with caramelized Walla Walla Sweet onions. The potatoes were gleaned from The Oregon Food Bank and the onions were gleaned from New Seasons Market.

Our dishwashing team is the best! They are the last to leave after a long day's work but never complain and even seem to have some fun. Craig helped keep things especially light today with his green hairdo in honor of St. Patrick's Day.

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!

The Evolution of Mac 'n Cheese

A serving of homemade mac 'n cheese. Also on the plate is barbecued chicken and roasted zucchini.

Guests at today's Wednesday Community Meal were treated to homemade mac 'n cheese. Each week, I have to decide what to make based on what's been gleaned, what's in the pantry and what's on sale. My aim is always to create something that's pleasing, nutritious and affordable.

So this week I decided to make mac 'n cheese and here's why:

Last Wednesday, we served cornbread donated by New Seasons Market with the soup and there were lots of extra crumbs left over, at least three cups worth. Volunteer Martha wrapped them, gave them to me, and asked, "Can you use these next week? I'd hate to throw them out." "Yes," I said, thinking they would make a great crispy topping for a casserole.

On Friday, volunteer Dave, who also volunteers at Lift Urban Portland, asked me if I could use some donated boxes of matzo crackers. I said, "yes," thinking if I crushed them, they would also be perfect for a crispy topping.

On Saturday, I catered a memorial reception and was gifted all of the leftover cheeses to use for the community meal. I immediately thought of using the cheese to make some yummy mac 'n cheese. There was medium cheddar, havarti, muenster, sharp cheddar and I already had some Swiss in the pantry fridge, gosh this was going to be good!

On Monday, while gleaning at New Seasons Market with my fellow community meal organizer, Fred, we picked up a few gallons of milk and some containers of chopped onions. My idea for mac 'n cheese was coming together nicely. I just needed a few more items.

On Tuesday, I went to Cash 'n' Carry and purchased two cases of dried macaroni, two more gallons of milk, fresh parsley and a box of roma tomatoes. For color and nutrition, I wanted to top the mac 'n cheese with sliced tomatoes. The total cost of the purchased ingredients was $43.25.

The mac 'n cheese came together wonderfully— volunteer Terri helped me make nine hotel pans of it and all of our guests got a taste. We served it as a main entree or as a side for everyone. We served 297 meals today.

Mixing It Up!

A serving of the chili we made today.

One of the most popular entrees at today's The Wednesday Community Meal was created by just mixing up small amounts of food gleaned from Good Samaritan Hospital to create a large amount of something new.

That something new was a hearty chili and we made it from small portions of shredded pork, sliced beef, black beans and corn that was all donated by the hospital. 

After looking our gleaned ingredients and doing a little brainstorming,  my fellow volunteer Mary and I decided it would be most practical to combine all of them with some more beans and canned tomatoes from our pantry to make a big single dish. We also seasoned it with chili powder, garlic powder and ground cumin.

So what initially looked like small amounts of food suddenly became a big pan of a meaty and flavorful chili that we heated, served over rice and topped with peppers, green onions and shredded cheese.

It really is a great feeling when you not only save perfectly good food from going to waste but you create a delicious new dish. 

We served 413 meals today.

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.

A Hearty Meal

Meatloaf and Baked Potato

Orange Chicken, Rice and Vegetables.

Guests at today's Wednesday Community Meal were treated to hearty entrees of meatloaf, roast beef and orange chicken and we received a very sweet compliment.

"You made me feel like I was eating at my grandma's house," said one man as he was leaving.

I'm so happy that he felt that way because it's exactly what we aim to do each week — Serve a pleasing meal in warm and friendly environment. We want the community meal to feel homey and comfortable because that's what our guests, especially the homeless, need and deserve.

We made the meatloaf from scratch with Cascade Farms Beef donated by SP Provisions and the roast beef and orange chicken were donated by Good Samaritan Hospital. The generosity of these and other local businesses allows us to feed the hundreds who come to our door each week and still keep our costs down.

We served 385 meals today.