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.
