The Warm Welcome Kitchen has adapted its delivery of meals to serve the public once again this year.
The kitchen will be offering hot, fully-cooked and prepared meals that can be picked up in a takeout container on Tuesdays from St. Giles Anglican Church and Thursdays at Trinity Lutheran Church, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. each night.
People will come to the door to pick up their food. If there’s a lineup, they will have to social distance.
The first day of the season is Oct. 27.
“We obviously can’t gather like we used to and all eat together. That’s still off-limits,” said Wendy Godfrey, who is the chairperson of the Warm Welcome board.
Everyone is welcome to attend.
This new system has some similarities to what Warm Welcome offered in the springtime, after the COVID-19 pandemic hit. People dropped by the Salvation Army to pick up a meal, but those meals weren’t cooked; the food in the spring had to be taken home and prepared.
When Warm Welcome was offering sit-down meals twice a week in 2018-19, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the kitchen was serving 50-60 people per night. They hope to be able to serve that many people each night with the new system.
“No matter how many people come, we’ll make sure there’s food enough for everybody,” said Godfrey.
Christa Jorgensen is back for another year as the kitchen co-ordinator. She typically shops the day of the meal to find the best bargain possible.
“I don’t know what we would do without her, actually,” said Godfrey. “She brings so much to this. She’s so passionate about helping people and having the kitchen going. She really is a gem and we’re so lucky to have her.”
Jorgensen’s ability to stretch a dollar is incredible, Godfrey said, and she always finds such great meals. The meat is usually the most expensive part of the meal, but she’ll build something great around discounted food she finds.
While Godfrey won’t be involved in the meal planning, she said there will be a variety of meals prepared during the season.
Godfrey said the people involved with the kitchen knew they had to open for the 2020-21 season, because the economy is still sluggish and people are still not working due to COVID-19 or other reasons.
“There are still people that need the meals and want the meals. Over the summer, I think every board member had people speak to them about when is the Warm Welcome Kitchen opening up, and when would we be serving meals.”
