Family Promise Walk-in Dinner
Elliot Guerra
Over 20 years ago OLMC parishioners cooked meatloaves and potatoes in their homes and delivered them to a small group of homeless and un-housed neighbors at the Bergen County Center for Health and Human Services shelter in Hackensack as part of the Family Promise Walk-in Dinner Program. In the years that followed, dozens of parishioners, teens, and staff members would cook and serve the meal at the shelter to about 125 guests. We saw the small number of mostly street-bound homeless stay about the same, but during the opioid crisis, more and more young people who, while most likely had homes, were not in them due to addiction. We also saw an increase of fixed-income elderly people receive meals.
During the pandemic, with the shelter closed and parishioners remaining at home, the church staff, risking illness, supported the Program by delivering meals into motels and hotels almost daily during the height of the health crisis.
At this time, the numbers are staggering! Many people on the line are now underemployed gig workers and day laborers as well as other populations, and are often with children. The Program receives about 200 people a day! Our dedicated team of parishioners that donate meals have retired or are overwhelmed by the need. Last week, one parishioner made 17 meatloaves! This isn’t sustainable. Confounding the issue is that–for many different reasons–Family Promise no longer allows teens under 18 to assist and parishes are now asked to provide so much more in a landscape of increased food prices.
This is a long-winded way of saying “WE NEED YOU!” If the OLMC community wants to continue this fruitful partnership with Family Promise, we need more families to donate a cooked meatloaf and individually wrapped baked potatoes. We serve the meal once a month. Consider making a meatloaf with your family. Make it a family affair! Send pictures to share on our social media pages. Make the cooking an activity at sleepovers. Teens receive service hours for their time, too! Join us! As the Gospel informs us, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” Let’s feed our neighbors in Bergen County and show our kids what it means to be an OLMC parishioner.
Here’s how to help:
Please cook an all-beef meatloaf (one loaf should serve six to seven people, 1/2” slices) and/or individually foil wrapped russet medium potatoes. Drop off items at room temperature or lukewarm (not frozen), anytime before 1 P.M. at the elevator lobby (small pew) on the day of service. Please contact Elliot Guerra at guerra@nullacademyolmc.org if interested in helping.