One of St. Matthew’s longest-running outreach efforts is the Provide-A-Meal Program we participate in with the Brookside Cluster of Churches. Our next meal is November 24 and we would appreciate any help you can provide!! If you can help at the event, or can donate prepared food in advance, please let Marian Hahn know. Her phone is 216-406-2065 and her email is mhhahn27@gmail.com
The outreach address is 4200 Pearl Road, Cleveland 44109, which you may know as the Old Brooklyn neighborhood. Preparation begins at 2:00 and the meal is served between 5:00 and 6:00 p.m. We typically serve about 40 guests at the event and send home a meal if we have extra food. We serve all ages from children to seniors. There are various reasons for guests to seek out meals, primarily low-income Social Security or Welfare needs.
If you cannot attend the event, another way to help is to contribute food. This month we are preparing Turkey Shepherd’s Pie. We would appreciate anyone who can bake turkey using any recipe, being certain to include thyme. We will assemble the rest of the meal before the event. Prepared turkey should be brought to church on or before the 10:00 a.m. service 11/24/24.
This outreach was started in the 1970’s by the West Side Ecumenical Ministries (WSEM), which is now The Centers for Family and Children. Meals were originally served at Archwood Methodist Church or at the WSEM Pearl Road location. When the closure of these locations threatened to end this effort, The Brookside Cluster of Churches Community Meal Program was born.
St. Matthew’s became involved in the program over 25 years ago. Marian and Dennis Hahn and Tom Kelly have been faithful volunteers over the entire life of the program. Suzanne Hrusch has been awesome at getting restaurants to donate food.
Let’s come together to make a difference!
