SNAP Challenge field trip: Learning about the Community Table

Today, I sat down with Rachel from the Community Table and what I learned is too much to write about on one blog post, so I will give you an overview of the organization and go more in depth with some other aspects in later blogs.

The Community Table in a nonprofit organization whose main mission is twofold:

1)      They serve meals to those who need food or community.  (I want to interject here that there is no income requirement to eat at The Community Table.  If you are lonely and just want human interaction and a really good meal, they are there.  It is so much more than a soup kitchen!)

2)      They educate the public on nutritional needs of the community.  (Another personal aside…This education extends toward the client as well as the volunteers as well.  When one is taught to cook and eat nutritional meals for themselves and for others, one learns to make better food choices.)

The Community Table has a small staff, but they rely on volunteer teams of (hopefully) at least six people from the community to cook the meals and do the serving and clean up after.  There is a cost for each team to prepare a meal at The Community Table.  The minimum suggested donation is $100 and eight gallons of milk.  There was a time, when the church and civic organizations that would send teams to The Community Table would have to plan their own meal and do their own shopping; but over time, having Tami, the kitchen manager, plan the meals and provide everything but the milk was found to work better. 

You see, the Community Table is able to get fresh produce and other food donations from local business and get food at reduced cost from Feed My People Food Bank.  No hassle for the volunteer team to try to think up a menu and an incredibly nutritious, incredibly delicious meal prepared on site.  The money the team donates then goes to pay for the costs of rent, utilities, etc.  For those of us who work a full-time job but still want to volunteer, this works out so much better!

In the summer months, it is hard for The Community Table to find volunteer teams.   People get busy with vacations and the kids are off from school.  Hunger doesn’t take a vacation, though.  What better learning experience for your kids than to go together with a couple of other families and form a volunteer serving team.  After the serving is done, the volunteer team is encouraged to sit down with the community members and staff.

This interaction with each other is one of the really great things about The Community Table.  There is a magic that happens when people get together over a meal.  Barriers come down and the social stigmas go away.  We are just people coming together and showing some loving kindness.  And like we all know from any church dinner in any church basement in the world, food is an incredible way to nurture.