Community Meal Prep Club

08/30/2026

There were a lot of Dolly vibes in the house on Saturday! 🦋🦋🦋

An incredible group of women, the love of books, friendship, laughter, and coming together to care for our community. 💗💗💗

Community Meal Prep Club gathered at the home of Sue and Walter Caffey with members of Words Matter, a beloved Melrose book club that has been meeting for nearly 23 years! 📚💕✨

Around the kitchen island and dining room table, we prepared *82 nourishing meals* for The Food Drive community freezers.

✨ Red Bean and Vegetable Stew over Brown Rice — vegan, by request — with rescued & donated kielbasa from The Food Drive added to a portion of the meals

✨Summer Chicken and Spinach Pasta tossed with freshly made nut-free Basil Pesto

We are so grateful to Sue & Walter for opening their home to us — with a sweet shout out to Abby, who enjoyed listening to her aunties have fun from her favorite porch spot. 🥰🐾

Our sincere gratitude goes out to Judy Warner for generously providing the foundational support for this gathering!

Judy is a member of Words Matter and the founder and principal of ComAve LLC, a marketing consultancy specializing in corporate governance matters. Her leadership support along with participant contributions made this beautiful morning of food, friendship, and service possible.

A little about the music: “In the Pines” felt especially right. This version is sung by Dolly Parton with her mother, Avie Lee Parton - which somehow makes it even sweeter for a gathering rooted in women, connection, and caring for one another.

82 meals. One kitchen. A house full of friends. And a Saturday morning spent doing something good together. 💛🦋🌸

08/24/2026

At Community Meal Prep Club , we’re so proud and humbled to see the beautiful connections that form at our cooking events. 💕💕

And when a participant chooses to celebrate their birthday with us, it couldn’t be a greater honor. 🥰🎂💜💫

With these wonderful vibes, how could the meals turn out anything but absolutely scrumptious?!

On August 11 at CMPC, we made *121* beautiful meals to donate to The Food Drive community freezer program!!

✨ Creamy Lasagna Soup with Beef, Sausage, and Spinach

✨ Roasted Lemon Dijon Chicken Thighs with Green Beans (GF)

Thank you to Stoneham Community Action Network and Dorothy Bergold for co-sponsoring this special event to help The Food Drive replenish its freezers while meals run low in the summer months, and to each and every participant for making our donations possible.

We are also so grateful to Melrose Highlands Congregational Church for hosting and supporting the event!

Want to join us in addressing hunger in our communities in a joyful, beginner-friendly workshop? DM Community Meal Prep Club! 💫💫💫

08/13/2026

Last Thursday, we set up an outdoor kitchen space and brought Community Meal Prep Club to the Melrose Farmers' Market! 🥗✨

Together, an incredible crew of volunteers and market shoppers prepared 50 fresh, nourishing meals for neighbors in our community - right in the middle of a bustling market.

Featuring beautiful local produce from Dick’s Market Gardens, Moonlight Farm, and Oakdale Farms, we prepared:

🥒🍅 Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

🥬🫜 Garden Salad

🍋🌱 Lemon Vinaigrette
.along with packaged sweet treats and handmade cards to accompany the meals.

The Food Drive transported the finished meals to residents of affordable senior housing in Melrose at Cochrane House and Cefalo Retirement Complex.

We loved creating a space where people could pull up a chair, chop vegetables, meet their neighbors, and be part of turning locally grown food into meals for our community.

We are so grateful to event sponsors Melrose Coop Foundation, a Charitable Legacy of Melrose Cooperative Bank, and the Meredith E. Drench Charitable Trust for making this event possible!

A HUGE thank you to the Melrose Farmers’ Market, The Food Drive, our wonderful farm partners for offering their produce at a discount, and every volunteer and market visitor who joined us - especially on such a hot summer afternoon! ☀️☀️☀️

This is what our work is all about: good food, shared purpose, and neighbors nourishing neighbors. 🙌💜✨

🗓️ A second Community Meal Prep Club market event will take place during the Melrose Farmers’ Market Food Security Awareness Day on October 8.

🌟Want to get involved? DM !

07/30/2026

This is such a testament to the power of intentional, heart centered teamwork! ❤️

Thank you to Trinity Parish in Melrose, The Food Drive, Roslindale Food Collective, and all of CMPC’s amazing volunteers for teaming up to expand access to nourishing food in our community. 🙌💕💫

We called. They answered. In June we reached out to Trinity Parish in Melrose for help, since donations for the Community Freezer are slower in the summer. The result? Trinity sponsored a Community Meal Prep Club this past Sunday and made 93 nourishing meals for the freezer. We're grateful beyond words.

07/28/2026

Thank you to Trinity Parish in Melrose for generously hosting and sponsoring our communitymealprepclub event this past Sunday!

Together we prepared *93 beautiful meals* to donate to The Food Drive Community Freezers. 🙌💜✨

We made:

✨ Beef Teriyaki Rice Bowls with Roasted Green Beans

✨ Lemon Parmesan Penne with Chicken and Spinach

THANK YOU to our partners at Roslindale Food Collective for donating that incredible London broil for our event in Melrose. Partnership at its finest! 🥰💕✨

This was an intergenerational event that brought together volunteers from within the congregation as well as other volunteers from the CMPC community. It was so meaningful to see new connections form as we cooked together for our neighbors in need!

If you’d like to get involved with a future event, follow or DM communitymealprepclub 💫💫

Thank you again to this incredible group of people and to Trinity Parish Church. As one volunteer said, “What a wonderful event. Every single person participated.”

Our hearts are full! 🙏❤️

07/27/2026

Community Meal Prep Club, the Melrose Farmers Market, and The Food Drive are teaming up for a unique outdoor volunteer event! 🙌🌱✨

Join us for a special Community Meal Prep Club at the Melrose MA Farmers' Market.

📅 Thursday, August 6

🕝 Volunteer shifts between 2:30–6:30 PM

📍 Bowden Park, 163 W. Emerson St. Melrose

Together, we’ll prepare fresh meals using locally grown produce from Melrose Farmers Market vendors for neighbors experiencing food insecurity. 🥬🍅🥕

Following the event, The Food Drive will distribute the meals to low-income senior housing residents in Melrose.

No cooking experience is necessary - we’ll provide all the training and supplies.
Whether you’re a first-time volunteer or a seasoned meal prep pro, we’d love it if you can join us!

💚 Kid-friendly volunteer opportunities are available, and teens are also welcome with a parent or guardian.

➡️ Interested in volunteering to prep meals? Our pre-registration is full, but we are keeping spots open for drop-ins!

Stop by our tent to join us or learn more about the program.

Feel free to DM with questions! 💫💫

This event is made possible through the generous support of the Melrose Coop Foundation, a Charitable Legacy of Melrose Cooperative Bank, and the Meredith E. Drench Charitable Trust.

07/22/2026

📣✨Seeking volunteers for this free community event! We have a few spots left in class/limited spaces available. DM Jess at Community Meal Prep Club with any questions.

Sign up link can be found here: https://www.communitymealprepclub.org/events

👩🏻‍🍳 Event: Community Meal Prep Club hosted and sponsored by Trinity Parish Church

📍Location: Trinity Parish Church, 131 West Emerson Street in Melrose

🗓️ Date: Sunday, July 26

⏰ Time: 2:00-5:00pm

🎟️ Tickets: $0

Join Community Meal Prep Club to prepare high-quality, nutrient-dense meals for The Food Drive Community Freezers.

During the summer months, The Food Drive’s freezer supplies tend to run low, and we’re partnering with Trinity Parish in Melrose to help replenish them.

As always, our events are beginner-friendly, and no cooking experience is necessary. Volunteers ages 13–17 are welcome with a parent or guardian.

🙏💫 A heartfelt thank you to Trinity Parish Church for generously sponsoring and hosting this event!

⭐️ Questions? DM Jess at communitymealprepclub.org

Pictured: a Community Meal Prep Club team at the Melrose Highlands Congregational Church event in June. 🥗💜✨

07/15/2026

A heartfelt thank you to the Melrose Coop Foundation, a Charitable Legacy of Melrose Cooperative Bank, for awarding Community Meal Prep Club a $1,000 grant!

Their generous support is helping us launch an exciting new project in partnership with the Melrose MA Farmers' Market and in support of The Food Drive - we look forward to sharing more details soon. 🤩🙌🌱

We are deeply grateful for the Melrose Coop Foundation’s investment in our mission and their commitment to strengthening our local community. Together, we’re bringing people together to prepare nourishing meals for neighbors in need.

06/19/2026

Last night at Community Meal Prep Club sponsored by Melrose Highlands Congregational Church, we made *121 meals* to donate to The Food Drive community freezers - and had a blast! 😍🙌✨

Thank you to Milano Center for donating chicken and broccoli for us to cook up, and to Wright-Locke Farm for subsidizing the cost of locally grown produce.

Here’s what we prepared:

✨ Sheet Pan Sausage, Peppers & Tomatoes + White Rice (GF)

✨ Fish Chowder with Vegetables

✨ Penne with Chicken and Broccoli

We also had plenty of time to nosh and chat. Thank you to Despina Makredes for donating her delicious Greek dips and Wickedbess Shrubs shrubs for our fabulous mocktails. Oh and Mama Jean too for the brown butter chocolate chip cookies. 🥗🍹🍪

We even got to pop outside to enjoy the double rainbow. 🌈🌈🥰✨

Big gratitude to this wonderful group of volunteer cooks and their champ coordinator Liane, to Melrose HS students Joey and Noelle, stellar event volunteer Shannon, and again to the MHCC for making the event possible!

It was an inspiring evening and such a joy to cook together for our neighbors. 🙏💜💫

06/17/2026

We’re thrilled to announce that Roslindale Food Collective (RFC) and Community Meal Prep Club (CMPC) are teaming up in our shared mission to promote food security across Greater Boston! 🎉

For more than seven years, Roslindale Food Collective, founded by Leah Arteaga, has been a beacon of hope in the community. What began as a grassroots effort to address food insecurity has grown into a powerful volunteer-led network dedicated to rescuing and sharing food with neighbors in need.

Every Sunday at 3pm, RFC gathers at Charles River Church in West Roxbury to distribute fresh produce, meat, bread, prepared foods, and more. The program is open to all, with no ID required.

Since its founding, RFC has distributed an incredible 442,939 pounds of food to local families and was recently awarded both Project Bread’s $20,000 Community Power Grant and The Boston Foundation Resiliency Grant.

Community Meal Prep Club , founded by Jess Drench, brings people together to prepare nourishing meals for neighbors in need while fostering dignity and belonging.

Since launching in fall 2023, CMPC volunteers have prepared and donated more than 2,000 nutrient-dense, seasonal meals.

Our hands-on, beginner-friendly cooking workshops produce around 100 meals in just three hours.

At our pilot event together last weekend in Roslindale, volunteers prepared brisket with sides and hearty minestrone soup for distribution through RFC’s Sunday program. 🙌✨

As a newly established nonprofit organization, CMPC views this partnership as an intentional step toward serving more meal recipients throughout Greater Boston.

Together, our organizations will collaborate to plan nutritious meals, source high-quality ingredients, and expand access to nourishing food for our neighbors.

Stay tuned as we embark on this exciting new chapter and continue advancing food security through collective action! 💜💜