May Newsletter

Spring has sprung, and St. Peter's is growing, too! We're excited to serve our community with new and improved programs. We are so grateful to be on this journey with you, our wonderful supporters and volunteers!

Dear Friends and Supporters,

In January, I took on the role of Interim Executive Director. I will continue to lead St. Peter’s Kitchen forward on a more permanent basis as Chief Executive Officer. I am excited to have this opportunity to continue the mission of St Peter’s. In conjunction with this, we will be adding new staff members and reorganizing our structure to be more effective and allow us to better serve the community. I would like to invite you to visit us and see the impact of your contributions. I am always open to comments and discussions.

Thank you!
Bob Boyd

We're going to be opening on Saturdays! Working families who are unable to visit the pantry during the week will be able to come to the pantry during our Saturday hours. This group is underserved, and we are increasing their access to healthy food. Please share this call with your friends, children, grandchildren, families, and anyone who might want to volunteer with us.

We're looking for volunteers for the following dates: June 15th, June 22nd, June 29th, July 13th, July 20th, July 27th, August 17th, and August 24th.

If you or anyone you know are interested, contact Amy.

St. Peter's has an online store! You can have our logo on items of your choosing, like hats, shirts, and mugs, in a variety of colors, sizes, and styles, all shipped directly to you with part of the proceeds going to St. Peter's. Check out our home page for the new "Shop" tap, pictured below, or click here to go straight to our shopping page!

Every day of the week, the staff of St. Peter's Kitchen is receiving food donations. Tuesdays are exceptionally busy; bright and early, Foodlink comes with an eighteen-wheeler stocked with thousands of pounds of food, all of which is brought inside, sorted, and put away or put to good use before the lunch program opens. The Foodlink delivery ranges between 5,000 and 15,000 pounds of food, and on Tuesday, May 21st, that number was around 7,000 pounds. Annually, we handle around 400,000 pounds of food

"Pounds of food" can be hard to conceptualize, especially when, for example, a pound of lettuce takes up more space than a pound of frozen meat. Think about your a trip to the grocery store; maybe it includes a five pound bag of flour, a bag of apples, or a rotisserie chicken. What if there were a couple dozen chickens, bags of apples, and bags of flour? And a couple dozen or even a couple hundred of everything else on your list? It adds up fast!

On Tuesdays, it's all hands on deck for the staff. Ed (right) is outside helping unload the Foodlink truck and putting everything down the chute, and Chris, Rahsaan, and Eugene are doing the heavy lifting at the bottom of the chute. Amy (left) puts food away in the pantry, Julia helps sort and empty boxes, and Char makes sure that everything and everyone is accounted for, down to the last can. Everyone works together, and all of the food finds its proper place in time for lunch.

Sometimes, a few things need to be put away after lunch, or some freezer space needs to be reorganized to accommodate what comes in. But every Tuesday, the volunteers play an essential role in preparing, organizing, and cooking the food we receive. The scale of what St. Peter's regularly accomplishes —hundreds of meals served in the lunch program daily—  is often described as mind-blowing and overwhelming, but it's accomplished by one of the simplest tools available: TEAMWORK.

Being a volunteer cook like Joe (left) and Randy (right) is a tall task, but cooks are creative! They concocted a marinade from a Thai peanut sauce and a premade herb mix that made some delicious chicken and roasted veggies!