Montgomery Meals
Montgomery Meals is a
program which serves the homeless. It was started around 1983 by Mary Dunn (a member
of ECA for many years). Originally, sandwiches were made and delivered to a homeless
shelter, but now complete meals are prepared, delivered and served every other Friday.
The menus are set up for the year and prepared by a crew that has been working together
for quite a few years. Every other Friday, 8-10 people come to ECA's kitchen to
prepare the meal that leaves the church at 5:15 pm. Normally 4-5 people take the
food and help serve it. During the Christmas season we have a break since so many
other organizations help at this time.
When Mary Dunn moved, the responsibilities were divided up: coordinator (Amy
Griffith), cooking (Craig Stephan), buying food (Suzanne
Mayo), and delivering and serving (Pete Mayo). Pete Mayo gets donations from the Second Harvest Food Bank.
The food is taken to the InnVision facility at 358 N. Montgomery
Street (hence the name Montgomery Meals). See
Map InnVision is a Santa Clara Valley
nonprofit organization that helps the homeless. The facility is a few years old and
is very nice. The previous facility was an old building with cots and very few
amenities. The homeless can live at this facility temporarily until they are able to
find a permanent place to live. Most of the people living there are working, and the
facility provides some job training. We serve the people living at the Montgomery
Street facility, and also the homeless who come in from the streets. This is usually
about 150-200 people at each serving.
Every
Thanksgiving, turkeys are donated by the congregation and roasted in pizza
ovens. The turkeys are brought back to the church, and the
meat is removed, put into zip-lock bags and frozen. We use the turkey to make turkey
enchiladas, turkey lasagna, turkey macaroni casserole, etc. Occasionally
ham and beef are added to the menu variety. Learn
more about our Turkey Drive.
Montgomery Meals is self supporting through generous donations of turkeys,
money
and time. Some of the people that help cook are members of ECA, and some are simply
members of the community who wish to help. It is a very enjoyable
experience--working together to make a difference in the lives of those less fortunate.
For more information, please contact Amy Griffith at
(408) 268-0920 or by e-mail at amy-g @ pacbell.net
NEW VOLUNTEERS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME.
