Community Meals | Trinity Talks Podcast

Hello everyone and welcome to this week's episode of Trinity Talks.

We are so glad that you are joining us here today.

And as you can see, I am sitting down here with a few members of Trinity's congregation.

And these are all folks who are playing a key role in Trinity's newly launched community

meals program.

So thank you all for joining me here today.

I'm just going to start by getting folks to introduce themselves.

So maybe we'll start here with you, Bill.

All right.

Well, my name is Bill Crawford.

I've been coming to the church now for 30 plus years and been involved in a number of

different things over the years.

But I think the last few years, I'm most notably known as Natalie's husband.

Okay.

Great.

And what's your role in the community meals program?

I was asked to lead the planning team to put the planning together for the meals and make

it happen.

So that's what we did over the summer.

Okay, great.

And over here.

And I'm Sylvia Langlois and I am very new to the church.

We've been here probably less than a year at this point and just really enjoying the

new community here.

Okay, great.

And what's your role?

At this point, I'm coordinating volunteers for the community meal program.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

My name's Oliver Clough and I've been here for just over a year and a half.

Okay.

Around a year and a half.

Yeah.

And I'm heavily involved with the food.

Okay.

So the planning, the purchasing and the cooking.

Okay.

And it's great for me because I was looking for a way to become engaged in the church,

plugged in.

Yep.

And so this is the path that I've chosen.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Well, yeah, it's so exciting to have you all here.

So the community meals program just launched a couple of weeks ago with the first meal

on September 26th.

That is correct.

But we know obviously a lot of planning and thought goes into something like that.

So maybe Bill, can you take us back to the beginning and how did this start?

Sure.

Well, the genesis for the community meal program really started with the neighborhood assessment

that you coordinated, that you led last year.

And out of that, a number of things came out, but pertaining to us and our conversation

here, two of the needs in the streets full area that were identified were food insecurity

issues or concerns and social isolation.

So there's a combination of people that are going hungry and people in the end or people

in the community that are lonely and looking for a relationship and for community and not

just food.

So that was the needs that were identified.

And then part of the assessment was also looking at the capacity of the church and what could

we do, what was possible.

And then that's when the community meal was suggested as a type of program that would

respond to both of those issues, both being hungry and being lonely.

And so then it just came to a point where the church decided they want to move forward

on this particular initiative that came out of the neighborhood assessment.

And then Rob called me in the office and told me that he loves me and has a great plan for

my life.

And part of that was taking the lead for the community meal program.

Okay, cool.

Oh, that's great.

So this community meals program, why do we think something like this is important for

the streetsville area?

What are we hoping to see come out of this program?

That's an interesting question.

I think there's so much that a church can give into a community.

And I've often thought about if the church were not to exist, not big church, but if

Trinity were not to exist, what difference would that make in the community?

And consequently, the fact that we are here, that this is where God has placed us, that

we're not a social club that is inward focused only wanting to do things for ourselves, but

we are called to be outward focused.

And so to think about what those needs are in the community and to make every effort

to address those needs and to be there to support people.

And if it's not us, then what?

That's what we are called to as believers, as followers of Jesus, to be the hands and

feet of Jesus and to make a difference in our community.

And I think of people who would be hungry, who would be lonely, who would not be in a

situation where they have that support and that we need to be there for them.

I think part of it is to have the platform and let things happen.

Because as much as we have all the intentions, Jesus works and God works in different ways.

And we open the door and see what happens and what comes in.

I agree with all of us.

It's about creating opportunities, creating that safe, comfortable, welcoming space that

people can come into, enjoy a meal, get to know some people, get to know some of us better

and become part of a part of community.

Yeah, yeah, it's good stuff.

Yeah, no, that's great.

So obviously a lot of planning and preparation goes into something, a meal like this.

I understand there was about 60 people at the first meal.

So a lot of people to welcome and to host.

So what does that look like?

Some of that preparation work.

What do you need to do to prepare a meal for the community?

Initially it's about putting together a good group of people as a planning team.

I'm just amazed and blessed to have Sylvia and Oliver and also Heather Thompson and Pradeep

Benjamin, the five of us together, make the planning team.

And when we met a few times over the summer, it just became very obvious that this is a

group of very caring and compassionate people that also have some experience and some skills

to put this kind of thing together.

So it was just it was a real ease and a blessing and we just felt that it was that we were

all kind of part of our calling and our response to our own faith and understanding of the

needs of the community was to be in that place at the time.

And it just kind of came together.

It was really even before the first meal.

I just felt really good about it.

And I was keeping I was trying to keep the expectations low for everyone, the planning

team, the volunteers and just saying, you know, look, that this first one could be just

basically, you know, a dress rehearsal, a dry run, you know, we'll go through the motions,

we'll make sure we know what we're doing.

If anyone comes, that's bonus.

We've got five or six people, you know, we're going to celebrate because those are five

or six people that needed to be here.

And and then I was just I was pleasantly surprised and shocked and and not that I should be because

God's responded like for things in the past just with abundance.

But we had 60 people come to the first first meal, which was which was incredible.

And and there and some of those people were here for the first time.

Some of them had been visiting Trinity for for meals that we had done before covid.

And we're just so happy to to be able to visit again.

And we had a couple of families come and and some people from the senior center down the

street and indwell down the street.

And it was just it was a good combination of people all coming together to share a meal

as the first event or first meal.

It was great.

Yeah.

But it really is a group effort.

I mean, there were a lot of volunteers.

We all took the food preparation course.

We're all certified.

Yeah.

We got the kitchen inspected and certified.

Yeah.

So yeah, there was a lot that went into the first one.

As Bill said, it was kind of a dry run.

See how it went and went very well.

And we've learned a lot from the first one and we're going to continue to improve and

make some changes.

Yeah.

Moving forward.

I'm very happy with the volunteer.

There's a lot of people that seem to want to volunteer and some people that were kind

of upset that the that the volunteer event and in church center was full.

I couldn't volunteer.

And I just say, OK, well, sign up for next month.

Sign up for the month after.

We'd love to have you.

It's great.

And so I mean, some of the volunteer roles are expected, like, you know, setting up and

cleaning up and things like that.

But we also have and welcoming people and as they come in.

But we also have a volunteer position, which is sitting down with our guests and eating

because we wanted to make sure that our guests didn't come in and feel, you know, isolated

in the space.

We wanted to we wanted to be very intentional about creating a sense of community and just

making sure that our guests felt welcome and engaged.

And so and so, yeah, some of our some of our volunteers, their role is to eat and chat

it up and just and just keep and keep the conversation going at their table.

And and I think everyone that came on the on the first community meal, they they got

their role.

They you know, they're very enthusiastic about either setting up or cleaning up or engaging

with our guests during the meal.

And it was a very we had music playing through the through over the course of the meal.

It was it was great atmosphere.

Yeah, I think we had people that people had a good time.

Our chef Oliver cooked the lasagna, meat and vegetable lasagna and salad and warm bread

and and we had no end of compliments about the about the meal, which was which is great.

And Oliver cooked for 100 people.

So we had plenty of plenty of food.

And another intentional part of the meal is to have takeaway containers.

So people can not only have the meal sit down and have meal together, but there there's

also food that they can take home and have something they need for tomorrow.

That kind of thing.

So we so we make we make sure that we don't nothing goes to waste.

Yeah.

That's great.

I just want to build on on Bill's comments as well.

How important the volunteers are is that this is not something that we could do without

volunteers.

Oliver is an absolutely amazing chef and so highly organized in the kitchen.

But we need people to be able to manage everything from in the kitchen to clean up to all of

the different roles.

So the volunteers and it's always the kind of thing when you got a new program, people

are excited and want to get involved, but it's sustaining it as well.

So making sure that we have people who see how valuable this is for others, for the community

and for ourselves.

There's so much that we gain just by giving as well.

And so to make sure that we have an ongoing flow of people who want to be engaged and

want to continue this work.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So Sylvia, you just mentioned this idea that like you gain as a volunteer, as someone helping

to lead this as well.

So maybe you could just share a bit about like why, what interested you about this program?

Why did you want to become involved and what do you see yourself getting out of it?

Yeah, I think a part of me and our history has been very much social orientation and

giving to others.

So we've been involved in many organizations in the past for people who directed to engage

people and involve people who may be feeling a bit more marginalized.

So I have a particular interest just in reaching out and being there for individuals, whether

it's in my personal life or whether it's through organizations.

So this was an opportunity to serve.

I happen to really enjoy serving people, whether it's in my home or others as well.

So whether it's serving meals and often there's a meal involved and so it was an opportunity.

And the church is a bit different environment than it is at home, but it's a big dinner.

You're just inviting a lot of people to dinner and you get to be able to enjoy hearing the

buzz and hearing that sense of community, hearing or growing and hearing laughter.

And as Rob was mentioning this morning, it's hearing joy in the room and that, and so often

when people are going through difficult things, joy is not what comes out at the moment.

And so to be able to hear that, I think there's a sense of personal joy that comes from watching

others in a position of a need being satisfied.

And so I think that's a really critical part for me.

And if nothing else, it's a way of serving.

And I think we all are called to serve in some way.

And some might be oriented in one direction or another, but it's a call to serve.

And meals are something we all do.

We eat three times a day, hopefully, and we serve.

And why not serve within a context of making sure that we invite others?

So I do see it very much as a sense of satisfaction that comes from a step that isn't because

we do eat anyway, yes, it takes a little bit longer to prepare a meal for 100 than it does

if you're preparing for four or six at home.

But still, there's a preparation step in there, but it's a satisfaction of having people around.

And I got to know this wonderful team that I didn't know beforehand.

Certainly a good byproduct for sure.

What about you, Oliver?

So for me, it was when it was announced in church, I heard that knock.

Sometimes we hear that knocking for us to step forward, and I saw Bill right after in

the hall.

And for me, it's a way to serve.

It's a way to give.

It's a way to build, not only with the community, but even with the volunteers.

Because if I want to take a leadership role and get people involved on the volunteer basis

and let them grow into their faith, let them grow as they serve, it has a platform for

that.

So there's a lot of different aspects to this community meal program.

As we talked about, it's a great platform for a lot of building, building within the

community, building within the church, building within the volunteers, building for us as

individuals and building for us grow all together as we practice our faith.

And you said that Rob had great plans for your life, but you said yes.

I did.

So what led you to want to be involved?

Well, Rob knows me enough to know that I have a heart for people who are hungry or people

are going, they're disenfranchised in our community.

So this idea of responding to people who are hungry and people who are isolated with food

and with community in relationship, that kind of hit me on a core level.

And so I certainly want to encourage that as a direction for Trinity to go and to reach

out to the community and make a difference, like Sylvie was saying at the beginning.

We certainly like during our time here, we'd like the community to feel the impact, positive

impact of our presence.

So hopefully being able to provide some good food and good relationship is an opportunity

to open the doors of the church and allow people to come in and get to know us a little

better.

Yeah, no, that's great.

I think I especially like sort of the point where you started Sylvia, that the question

of what if we weren't here?

What would be the impact would people notice?

And I think, yeah, having the space where we're inviting 60 or more people in to have

a meal that shows, you know, maybe they would miss us, you know, and maybe there is something,

a special role for the church here.

So this first meal is now done.

What's next?

Well, as Oliver alluded to earlier, we've learned some things during the first meal.

I think one of the things that we know we need to grow and develop as a separate team

is the cooking.

So Oliver did an amazing job on the first one.

But being one guy making food for 100 is a big task and the one that really needs to

be shared around.

So ideally, we're looking for, you know, two or maybe three other people who have cooking

skills and the capacity to think big picture around the meal as well in terms of logistics

and purchasing and just kind of designing that whole thing so they could work with as

opposed to a volunteer in the afternoon who's coming in to help with prep, which is really

important.

We're just looking for a team that can help to plan and organize the meal over the course

of the month.

So it's just not on one person on an ongoing basis.

And that's a big part of this.

So it's not going to be in our volunteer help with the particular month.

We're going to build a team similar to the planning team we put together for the whole

community meal.

We'll put together a cook team for that.

Oliver will head up and that way, you know, there'll be a few people that can be doing

that and it'll take some of the pressure off Oliver all the time.

So that was a good thing to learn on our first one, not our sixth one after we burned them

out.

So we're looking to put that team together.

And we're just we're we're planning the next few community meals we've committed for a

year and then then we're going to kind of assess at that point and see if it's if this

is really kind of we're reaching our goals, if we're really meeting the needs of people

in the community that are hungry because it's open to everybody.

But we're specifically targeting those in our community who are facing food insecurity

issues, you know, whether you're an individual or part of the family and bringing your family

or your senior or I mean, you're just hearing some of the, you know, horror stories even

post pandemic of the increasing the increasing number of children that are going without

without food in our community.

And we just we really want to respond to that in an effective way.

So want to make sure that that families are invited to come and and and sharing the meal

and be part of community.

And the and and also, yeah, so targeting hunger and loneliness and but trying to do it in

a way that doesn't stigmatize anybody or anything by making it open to open to all.

Great.

And so the next meal is October 24.

It is the meal is the last Thursday of every month.

OK, so we've made it like that just to make it easy for everyone to remember Trinity last

Thursday of every month come for the community meal.

Except for October.

It's our second meal, which if we did it on the last Thursday would have been Halloween.

So we didn't really want to kind of fight with that particular tradition.

So we're doing it the week before on the 24th.

And then it's the last Thursday in November.

And then the last Thursday in December, interesting enough, is Boxing Day.

It's December 26.

So we as a planning team, we said, well, do we want to change the date or not?

And then in the end, we decided, no, that the the the goals of the community meal around

providing a good meal and providing relationship and community.

That's exactly what the holidays is about.

And it's exactly what some of our guests might be missing over the holidays.

So to be able to do a community meal on December 26, we think it hits really bang on to what

we're all about and what we want to achieve.

So we just hope we'll get the volunteers to help us on Boxing Day, because that might

be a bit difficult.

But sure.

That's something if you're listening and watching, maybe you can start to think about now, what

are your Boxing Day plans?

And maybe you can come and join us that day.

Well, thank you so much for sitting down with me and just sharing your stories and about

this this really cool program that's growing here at Trinity.

And so if you want to learn more about the Community Meals program, you can check out

our website, check out the Church Center event or shoot us an email.

We'd love to hear from you.

So thank you so much for joining us for this week's episode of Trinity Talks.

And I hope you have a good week.