The mission statement for The Breakfast Program at St. Andrew’s reads, “We are a community providing a daily hot breakfast and welcoming space to anyone who is in need. We do this to nourish and strengthen all those who come through our doors.” Continuing on this mission in the time of COVID-19 has not been an easy task, and our guests no longer walk through our doors, but the heart of the mission: breakfast and community still stands.
We currently distribute a hot breakfast from our front doors and many of our guests stay outside to eat and socialize (while observing social distancing). We are still providing more than a meal, this is a place to see friendly faces, chat with volunteers and other guests, and most importantly a place to feel loved and seen.
Our volunteers who are running our daily distribution have been the absolute backbone of this program. In order to be on a distribution team you must be under 60 with no pre-existing health conditions and you must have another member of your household willing to volunteer with you. Each day of the week a household team of 2-3 people comes in and prepares and distributes all of the food. This system is allowing our volunteers to work in the kitchen without observing social distancing requirements, but it means that our volunteers have lost their volunteer community. The fact that these teams continue to come in so tirelessly and selflessly means the world to both me and the breakfast guests.
This system is not without significant cost, carry out containers, granola bars, individual butter packets, these items add up. We are blessed to have many generous supporters keeping us going during this time. If you feel moved to donate more information is on the donate page of our website.
Because of all of this, breakfast continues to be served, as it has been every day since 1982. Thank you to everyone who continues to support the program through sharing our Facebook page, donations, and word of mouth. Without you we could not serve the way we do.
