July 2015
Feeding neighbors one meal at a time
T
he steam table was full, tablecloths in place, flowers on tables when the door to St. Peter’s Outreach in Joplin opened sharply at 11 a.m. The first of 118 diners registered at the door and stepped up to the serving line, receiving a china plate filled with chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, fruit salad and a slice of homemade bread. A dessert cart offered a variety of sweet treats. Seconds are always available, but no take-out. Pushing, shoving, fighting, yelling or disruptions are never allowed as the 50 seats at the ten tables are filled. When a seat is vacated, another diner is invited in — until the doors close at exactly 1 p.m. Terri Giarratano oversees the operation four days a week — lunch on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and Sunday brunch. The meals are free. But, for Terri, free should never mean diners don’t eat a good meal in a pleasant atmosphere. “Some people come in thinking no one cares about them,” she says. “We can give them a few hours when we care about them.” Terri doesn’t do it all on her own. On a recent Monday, she had a group of Iowa teens on a mission trip help out, along with her regular team of volunteers, including 92-yearold Irene Comer who sits at the registration table and 91-year-old Mary Schreiver who does the dishes. Kim Vaughn, a retired professional cook, runs the kitchen, putting out delicious and
IN THIS ISSUE
ST. PETER’S OUTREACH IN JOPLIN SERVES CLIENTS FREE MEALS WITH CARE. TERRI GIARRATANO, WHO RUNS THE SOUP KITCHEN SAYS, “IT’S A MINISTRY MORE THAN A JOB.”
healthy meals created from donations and food purchased from Ozarks Food Harvest. More than 10 years ago, St. Peter’s Outreach was housed in an old home, providing groceries, clothing and household items to the needy in Joplin. St. Peter’s stepped up to join other agencies after the 2011 tornado devastated Joplin. Her experience, especially during the tornado response, led Terri to realize that St. Peter’s needed to scale back its services, so she decided to focus on food. “Being small, we needed to do what we do best,” she explains. So the agency became only a food pantry. She decided to add a commercial kitchen in
the building constructed for the outreach in 2008. In less than six months, Terri raised the money and started the soup kitchen in March. “This is extremely personal to me,” she says. “It’s a ministry more than a job. So it’s easy for me to ask for money.” The pantry continues to serve families each week, but plans are to stop regular pantry days, keeping only a small supply of pantry foods for emergencies and special cases. Terri believes that the switch is a win-win move. “It costs us a whole lot less, and we are helping a whole lot more people,” she explains. “Like our slogan says, ‘We feed our neighbors one meal at a time.’”
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