Monday Night Hospitality serves 450 to 500 meals every Monday in All Souls’ Reidy Friendship Hall. Over 60 volunteers each week serve a restaurant style service to those in need. Guests are served on tables set with linen tablecloths, church china and flatware. Flowers adorn the tables and frequently guest musicians entertain on the piano. To support visit our site for links to fundraising efforts
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Our guests are all in need – many are homeless, some are living on fixed incomes that do not meet all of their needs, others are elderly, and living alone. They cherish the social connections, caring and love that our Monday night meal service provides. Volunteers are encouraged to interact with guests and create a warm and welcoming environment. Dinner consists of soup (homemade by the kitchen staff), fresh bread (donated by Eli’s), a salad and an entrée consisting of a portion of meat (frequently chicken thighs), frozen vegetables and either mashed potatoes with gravy or rice. Continuous hot coffee, hot tea and juice or ice tea accompany the meal service. The menu varies each week and we have home baked deserts to end each meal. Holiday meals for Christmas, Easter, Martin Luther King Day and July 4th have special menus. Pizza night, roast beef and other special meals are possible due to the generosity of our volunteers. In the afternoon from 4:00 PM to 5:30 PM a staff working with Ms. Emily Blake ([email protected]) sets 234 place settings to prepare for the evening. Frequently middle school children from Allen-Stevenson and other neighboring schools help with this task. Volunteers that want to help during this time should first contact Emily. Children must be accompanied by teachers or parents. Chefs arrive between 4:00 PM and 5:00 PM to prepare each evening meal. All ingredients are fresh and purchased from Fresh Direct, Fairway or Restaurant Depot. Funds are provided by gifts from volunteers, church benefactors and by the Heart & Soul Charity Fund. The annual program budget is $65,000 which works out to about $4 per meal for over 18,000 meals. Donations from City Harvest/Purdue, Eli’s, Home Depot, D’Agostino, Sabrett and Gristede’s are vital to keep costs as low as possible. The All Souls RE families provide home baked deserts each week. Chefs rotate every week and kitchen staff positions are coveted. Please contact Ms. Kathleen Taylor ([email protected]) for information about volunteering for a position on the cooking staff. High school students frequently help with food preparation (vegetables), preparing the bread and plating deserts and are encouraged to show up at 4:00 to assist the chefs. The serving staff arrived between 6:00 PM and 6:30 PM. Each evening requires about 50 volunteers to serve the diner and provide the kind of ambience that makes our guests feel loved. We encourage volunteers to create the same sense of welcoming that a guest would experience in our homes. Volunteers wear aprons with name tags and serve specific tables and rows. Row Captains supervise the meal service. Ten volunteers are needed to place the meals on plates which are then brought to seated guests. A team of volunteers welcomes guests and makes certain that there are seats for everyone. Those who have to wait are served coffee and tea. Volunteers are asked to stay for clean up and the evening ends at 8:45 PM. Servers include church members, local community members, students from Manhattanville College, members of the NY Junior League,and New York Care’s volunteers. Students must be of college age to participate in the meal service. To volunteer or donate, please visit our website at mondaynighthospitality.org. For any other information please contact us at [email protected].
