For 25 years and counting, hundreds of compassionate volunteers have come to Matt Talbot’s community kitchen to provide, prepare and serve hot nutritious meals to the working poor and homeless. These volunteers, some who have been around for all 25 years, are tireless in their efforts to provide nourishment for the body and spirit. Today, volunteers remain the heart and soul of Matt Talbot with over 900 volunteers helping each month with hunger relief and outreach activities. In 2017 volunteers provided 33,794 hours of service and $224,442 worth of in-kind food donations.
To celebrate these special volunteers, Matt Talbot hosted a volunteer appreciation luncheon on Thursday, April 19th at the Graduate Hotel. More than 150 volunteers attended. The keynote speaker was Randy Hawthorne, Executive Director and Publisher for the Nonprofit Hub and Executive Director of VolunteerLinc. The Graduate Hotel and Scheels sponsored the event.
Special recognition was given to the 16 volunteer hunger relief teams that have prepared, provided and served a meal each month for 25 years:
• Champoux Family & Friends (Started September 1992, 1st Saturday Evening)
• CALL (Started September 1992, 4th Saturday Evening)
• P.K. & Friends (Started October 1992, 2nd Sunday Evening)
• SAMS (Sunday at Matts) (Started October 1992, 3rd Sunday Evening)
• The Servants of St. Joseph (Started October 1992, 4th Sunday Evening)
• St. Patrick’s Manley (Started October 1992, 5th Sunday Evening)
• St. David’s Episcopal (Started December 1992, 3rd Monday Evening)
• Blessed Sacrament #1 (Started January 1993, 2nd Friday Evening)
• St. Mary’s/North American Martyrs (Started January 1993, 3rd Friday Evening)
• St. Joseph’s #3 (Started May 1993, 1st Thursday Evening)
• Blessed Sacrament #2 (Started May 1993, 2nd Thursday Evening)
• St. Elizabeth’s Mission Integration Committee (Started May 1993, 3rd Thursday Evening)
• St. James Cortland (Started May 1993, 5th Thursday Evening)
• St. Teresa’s #1 (Started June 1993, 3rd Wednesday Evening)
• St. Teresa’s Coffee Group (Started June 1993, 4th Wednesday Evening)
• St. Joseph’s #1 (Started August 1993, 2nd Tuesday Evening)
“Matt Talbot exists because of the compassion and vision of volunteers who saw an unmet need in our community in 1992”, said Susanne Blue, Executive Director. “Our volunteers make a substantial investment in Matt Talbot and we simply couldn’t provide the services we do without their help. This was a great celebration!”
Learn more at mtko.org.
(photo credit: Ron Orman Jr. of Scheels)
