Helping other members of your community enjoy a restaurant-quality meal and then take-home healthy food for meals later in the week is a wonderful way to spend time with good friends. Janet McDougall, a long-time Bread & Broth Adopt A Day of Nourishment (AAD) sponsor, always invites friends to join her in volunteering at her Monday Meal sponsorship dinner. At Janet’s designated Monday Meal on June 29, she was joined by her friends Peggy Bourland, Kathleen Maston, and Carolyn McKissock to help the Bread & Broth (B&B) volunteers at her AAD sponsorship meal.
Each Monday Meal at St. Theresa Hall requires extensive preparation. The B&B food coordination team picks up food from grocery stores and food service businesses and brings the donated food items to Grace Hall in the early morning, and sets up the tables and chairs for the dinner. Then around noon, the B&B cooks begin preparing the meal for up to 160 dinner guests, with the B&B serving crew arriving at 3 p.m. to set up the dessert/drink tables, arrange the food giveaway tables, and bag the fresh fruit and vegetables and dairy products purchased by Bread & Broth.
Janet and her AAD crew also arrived at 3:00 p.m., one hour before the doors opened to the dinner guests, and immediately began helping the B&B serving team. Their kindness, energy, and warm smiles were appreciated by volunteers and dinner guests alike.
The early evening meal featured Salisbury steak served with mushroom gravy, baked rice, string beans, and salad. Guests responded enthusiastically, with many stopping to compliment the cooks and AAD serving crew.
“Our team had a great time serving our community a wonderful meal,” Janet shared. “The cooks outdid themselves, as always. It’s such a pleasure to see so many enjoy a great community meal.”
When the meal serving ended at 5:30 p.m., the AAD crew members had served 134 meals, including seconds. Janet and her AAD crew finished their hosting duties by joining the B&B volunteers with the meal’s final process of takedown and cleanup. The work is demanding, but the rewards are meaningful: making a direct and compassionate impact on the community members who benefit from a nutritious meal and a welcoming place to gather.
Thank you to long-time South Lake Tahoe resident Janet McDougall and her friends for being supportive of Bread & Broth’s mission of easing hunger and being compassionate in their service to their fellow community members.
To learn more about Bread & Broth, donate, or sponsor an Adopt A Day of Nourishment, visit www.breadandbroth.org, or follow Bread & Broth on Instagram or Facebook.