York Town News
Table of Plenty brings strangers, friends together for Thanksgiving
By Virginia L. Woodwell
York's Table of Plenty brought holiday to cheer to area residents with a Thanksgiving meal last week, and promises more with an upcoming Christmas Party in December. The all-volunteer organization offers meals to those in need of food, company or just an evening out - no questions asked - every Tuesday evening. Pictured is Director Jacki Alwin serving up holiday fare on Nov. 21.
Photo by Virginia L. Woodwell
In fact, such a meal is provided in York from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday night, year-round, and it has been since Oct. 2, 2001.
It's called the Table of Plenty, and its purpose is, in the words of some of its early literature, to "provide meals at no charge to those who, for whatever reason, need help in obtaining nourishing food for their families and themselves."
In that process, it also seeks to "ease not only physical hunger, but also emotional hunger, and so … welcome[s] those who are lonely or lost or who feel forgotten."
The Table of Plenty exists, that is, not only for persons who can especially benefit from a free meal - whether because of homelessness and destitution or unemployment or even underemployment - but for those who seek the compassion and companionship provided by a sit-down dinner as well as its food. Thus its attendants may include the isolated elderly, say, or just individuals needing an evening's emotional boost. There are absolutely no requirements for admission.
"We attract a wide range of people," said York Table of Plenty Director Jacki Alwin, adding, "there is no issue about why they're here, for them or for us. … Everybody is welcome. …Anybody can just show up here and we're happy to have them."
The Table of Plenty, non-profit and staffed entirely by volunteers, is the brainchild of York resident Kari Prichard, who first began the service in Berwick with friend Cheryl Klausman in 1994.
The Berwick Table of Plenty continues to function under the direction, now, of Laura Smith and Chris Stolpe, serving dinners at the Berwick United Methodist Church on Wednesday nights.
In York, the dinners, which for a long time were held at the United Methodist Church of York/Ogunquit, are now held at the First Parish Church's Moody Hall in the village, and Prichard, who continues to function on the Table's governing board, now leaves everyday operations in York up to Alwin.
Prichard and Alwin were both present for the dinner in Moody Hall last Tuesday, Nov. 21, on the date closest to Thanksgiving, when thanksgiving in the general sense was on the minds of all.
They'd lost all their turkeys - and the freezers that contained them - in last spring's floods, Prichard and Alwin reported, but they'd conjured up a substitute. Using roast turkey breast provided by York Hospital, they served turkey sandwiches with gravy, peas, a salad, relishes and olives and cranberry sauce, tea breads, cider and two kinds of pie, apple and pumpkin.
That meal, like all of Table of Plenty's, was presented at tables that were covered with tablecloths and decorated with flowers; the dishes were solid crockery and the flatware metal, not plastic; the guests remained seated and the foods were brought to them by servers, who honored individual requests.
"The idea," said Alwin, "is to make it the same as having people over to your house for dinner - to make it just as nice as possible. And that includes serving really good food."
To carry this off, Prichard has designed a remarkably efficient community delivery system.
Nine teams of 10-plus members each, and each with a "captain," take turns planning and executing the dinners, one team to each dinner, rotating in sequence so that no one team bears any greater burden than another. Some teams plan the entire dinner themselves; others plan theirs in conjunction with Director Alwin.
Volunteers all, the team members are drawn from York's churches and from York Hospital.
St. Christopher's Church, because it has a larger membership than the others, fields several teams; each of the other churches - on this fall's schedule they have been the United Methodist Church of York/Ogunquit, the First Parish Church and the Union Congregational - fields one team, as does the hospital.
On the day of the dinner, the team assembles in Moody Hall's kitchen at about 3 p.m. Most of the foods are then cooked there on that day, but not all - baked beans, for example, and any breads - and, there, experienced team members have carved out their preparation niches. Norma Ames and Edith Jones, for example, were the established salad-makers last Tuesday when it was the turn of a team from St. Christopher's to prepare the meal; Mary Black Andrews, who was their captain, was among those who rushed back and forth as waiters when it was time to get the food from pot to table.
Among others working hard on the St. Christopher's team that day were Diane Kenney, Linda Boulette, Ann and Barry Cooley, Darrah and Tony Mont and Allan Andrews. The schedule calls for guests to eat between 5:30 and 6:30 p.m., but nobody is ever turned away in that hour, no matter how late.
"If somebody comes in at 6:30 p.m.," Alwin said, "I always serve them."
Table of Plenty's food comes from several sources: the Good Shepherd Food Bank in Lewiston, which distributes foodstuffs to food pantries all over Maine; Hannaford Supermarket, which donates desserts, produce and breads, some of which guests are encouraged to take home with them, and York Hospital, which kicks in $100 in credit with their food purveyor each month. Table organizers also buy some foods, outright, at Hannaford.
Alwin guessed that, though it's the Table's goal to stay within a budget of $100 for foods per weekly meal, the real cost is commonly closer to $150. Donations of money have come in from the Kennebunk Savings Bank, York Rotary, local churches and United Way.
This year, there are some storm clouds on the financial front.
"Our numbers are going up and we're expecting a busy winter," said Alwin.
Five winters ago, records reveal, York's Table of Plenty was attracting only about 25 people per week; now that figure averages close to 80, and Alwin expects that it will rise as higher fuel prices translate into higher home-heating and grocery costs, making it harder for more and more area residents to meet their own budgets.
At the same time, Alwin noted that some people who drove long distances to get to the York dinners were prevented from doing so earlier in the summer by prohibitively high gas prices.
Area food pantries, Alwin noted, have already reported a 200 percent increase in their outgo in just the last three months.
They are saying, "Be ready," she said.
Alwin's job (she is also a volunteer) as York's Table of Plenty operations director used to be supplemented by another's as food director. The food director's slot is now empty, with the result that Alwin is handling both jobs.
"We're actively looking," she said, but she noted that the two jobs' duties now actually parallel one another and overlap, making both more appealing.
A major part of her role, Alwin said, amounts to "making people feel welcome so that they want to come back."
Persons interested in making donations of food, work or money to the Table of Plenty may call 676-0943.
And guests planning to bring children to the Table of Plenty's Christmas Party, scheduled for Tuesday, Dec. 19, Prichard announced, should call Alwin at that number to let her know, "because Santa will be coming and we just need to know ahead of time."
