Dinner
for a Dollar
at Grace and St. Peter’s Episcopal Church Celebrates
its First Anniversary
HAMDEN, CT—Grace and St. Peter’s Friday Night Dinner Ministry,
“Dinner for a Dollar”, has been a continuous mission since it began in June
2011, every Friday night, 52 weeks a year. The program seeks to provide a warm,
nutritious meal, in a welcoming environment, to all members of the greater
Hamden community, once every week, for a suggested donation of one dollar.
Dinner for a Dollar is organized by Allison Batson, a
parishioner at Grace and St. Peter’s. The program started last year with the
valuable guidance of The Rev. Matt Lincoln, and Joan Hunt, Community Supper
Coordinator, of St. John’s in North Haven. Grace and St. Peter’s parishioners
not only cook the meals, but also attend the weekly dinners, to serve as hosts
to our guests from the outlying community, providing fellowship during the
meal; all people are welcome, all people are accepted, and all people are
treated with dignity. The meals are cooked in the church kitchen by volunteer
members of the parish, who plan the menu, shop for the food, and prepare and
serve it. This dinner ministry fills a void for many of the people from the
broader community. Many experience financial poverty and the poverty of
loneliness, in a community where poverty of any kind is usually hidden.
Dinner for a Dollar feeds approximately 35 people a week, most
of whom are non-parishioners. Many people, from different walks of life, come
every week and look forward to this opportunity for a warm, home-cooked meal
and the company of others at the dinner each Friday night. Some live in the
nearby subsidized senior housing. Some are homeless and/or very poor. Some
people come who are financially comfortable, but simply enjoy the food or being
with other people at the dinner, or perhaps just receiving a meal without
having to cook or do dishes. A solid community is building up around this
weekly meal, with people looking forward to seeing each other week to week, and
many, including non-parishioners, taking on roles of extending hospitality to
others.
Grace and St. Peter's wants to thank everyone, volunteers and
diners alike, for making this program such a great success and welcomes the
whole community to join in the weekly dinners.
PRESS RELEASE from Grace and St. Peter's Episcopal Church Hamden, CT
CONTACT: Rev. Amanda Gott (203) 248-4338
