Hope Community Meals is run by a group of volunteers who cook and serve a meal for anyone and everyone, once a month, at Hope House Community Centre. We’re looking for more volunteers, so we thought we’d get one of our current helpers to explain what it’s like…
“I’ve been volunteering for the daytime shift for almost a year; from 2.30pm to around 4.30pm I peel and prep along with the others. It is lots of fun! I didn’t know anyone else when I started but everyone is so friendly, and we have a great chat.
We design the menus together and all suggestions are welcomed. A lot of what we make is vegetarian, and we always have a vegan option – not difficult when the community allotment next door supplies us with the freshest fruit and veg.
We normally have upwards of 40 people attending, and their feedback makes us very happy! At Christmas we had 90 people sign up; amazingly we managed it (in a serene swans paddling furiously under the surface kind of way)!
The meal itself is served at around 6pm. The community spirit it encourages is so vital; everyone sits at long tables and gets to know their neighbours better. Our volunteers can come to prep, serve up, share the meal (obviously the best bit), or just to wash up – so you can give as much or as little time as you can spare.”
If you’d like to hear more or help out please contact [email protected]