community meals (march 2013)

7/29/2019 Community meals (March 2013)

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34 MARCH 2013

Travel through anyNew Englandtown, and the

signs for communitymeals are everywhere.Church suppers,Sunday pancakes at therehouses, pasta dinners

at VFW halls thesecommunal meals are partof the fabric of close-knit towns and villages.Norwich is no dierent.

NorMag_MARCH_Master.indd 34 2/6/13 8:44 A


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On a recent winter evening, about 100 peoplepacked the fellowship hall at the First Congrega-

tional Church for a roast beef dinner. Couples,families and singles melded together at long tables,feasting on beef, potatoes, vegetables and bread

pudding. ey came from Norwich and from NewLondon, Waterford, Clinton, Lisbon and othersurrounding towns.

Former church members Shawn and Debbie Szir-bik drove from Clinton to attend the meal. At this

point, its more for the people than for the food. Itwas a family, not just a church, Shawn Szirbik said.

Community meals at the Norwichtown Greenchurch, which are held at 5 p.m. on the second Sat-urday of every month between October and May,

are religious, but its not in-your-face religion, saidJohn Ross, who organizes the meals with his sister,Bev Shaw. Its more about the community and fel-lowship of being together.

Sue Scheck frequently attends church suppers atFirst Congregational. e bell ringer and formerdeacon said its a way for her to support the church.Besides, she loves the food.

Knights of Columbus Council

13 member Dean Bosse.

Previous page, First

Congregational Church meal

organizer John Ross.



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During Lent, Catholic (and some other

Christian) churches often oer a Lenten

sh fry, or a meat-free Friday meal to help

church members abide by the Lenten

tradition of abstaining from eating meat

on Fridays during the 40-day period.

Sacred Heart Church sponsors a Poor

Mans Soup Night every Friday during

Lent. Families or organizations donate the

bread and vegetarian soup ingredients,

which are prepared by Lamothe andWolinski, of the Council 13 Knights. A

freewill contribution is accepted and

donated to the Catholic Relief Services

Rice Bowl, which feeds people locally and

worldwide. Basically, you come down

and have a poor mans supper. You eat

bread and soup, Lamothe said. Afterward,

churchgoers go upstairs and participate in

a reading of the Stations of the Cross.

St. Josephs Church on Cli Street has

held an annual Fish Fry the past 12 years.Details for this year were not available in

time for publication.

For listings of other local sh fries and

community dinners, visit norwichbulletin.

eviesays.com and search the events

listings.



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Top left, Sacred Heart Church volunteer Gerard LeBlanc. Bottom left, Bob Gustafson, Marilyn Hooker, Peggy Andrews, Sandy

Grant and Bill Grant enjoy each others company in the fellowship hall at First Congregational Church. Above, meatballs at

Sacred Heart Church.

Amid the din of laughter and easy conversation around her, the church membersface became serious when she talked about her need to socialize. I live alone at thispoint in my life. Its no fun eating alone, you know. I very much prefer being in thecompany of other people whenever I can be.

On the same night, another community meal was going on around the corner atSacred Heart Church on West Town Street in Norwich. e event, which was sponsoredby the Knights of Columbus Council 13, featured spaghetti with homemade sauce andmeatballs, garlic bread, bread pudding and cake all for a freewill donation.

e smell lured us in, said Mary Trudeau, laughing. Aer the 4 p.m. service, sheand her husband, Harlan, opted to stay for the church dinner instead of going to theOlive Garden Restaurant as originally planned. Both ate every morsel on their plate.It was spectacular, said Mary, adding that she enjoys the camaraderie with other

people, especially older individuals. eyre walking, living history.You can tell it was homemade (sauce). We enjoyed the meatballs, church member

Valerie Musial said. I think that was the best part of the meal, right? she asked herhusband, John, who concurred.

John Musial said events such as this help him to get to know fellow parishioners bet-ter and feel l ike he is more a part of the community.

is is a test lab for us, so we will see, said Brian Lamothe, grand knight of the Knightsof Columbus Council 13, as he watched parishioners trickling into the churchs basement at5 p.m. e spaghetti dinner is not a regular event at Sacred Heart.

Later, Lamothe said he was happy when he learned that about 44 people attendedthe dinner. Two years ago, the Knights held a successful corned beef dinner, and are



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thinking of oering more

monthly dinners at SacredHeart. On the third Sundayof every month, Council

13 also sponsors a breakfastfrom 8 a.m. to noon at the

church. e menu includes eggs,hash browns, tater tots, bacon,sausage and pancakes. ValerieMusial said her family frequentlyattends the community breakfast.Its a g ood meal at a good price

and there are no dishes.With an infectious smile and

energy, Lamothe said, We like to getthe people upstairs (at the service) tocome down and be involved in it. We

put the sign out front for the breakfast,so this way the community at large can

come down. Its fun.e last breakfast they held benetted

Liz Halls Kids Christmas charity, whichsupplies presents to needy children dur-

ing the holiday season.

at was successful, Lamothe saidproudly.

Sometimes the Sacred Heart break-fast fundraisers feature a 50/50 rae

where 50 percent of the money goes tocharity and the other 50 percent goes tothe rae winner. Knights of Columbusmember Robert Wolinski said theseraes are becoming increasingly popularacross New England and the countryduring dances and community meals.

Its a bringing together in a socialatmosphere to know each other.

Sometimes, its amazing the connec-tions you make, whether its previousfriends, previous family relationships, orfuture business relationships. You neverknow who is going to be there. e nextthing you know, you have a network of

people you didnt have before. Its tre-mendous, said Wolinski, who makes thebread pudding dish every month.

Knights of Columbus Council 13 Grand Knight Brian Lamothe, left, takes time to greet his brother, Dennis Lamothe, at

the Sacred Heart Church dinner.



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e Taville Volunteer Fire Depart-ment, at 134 Providence St., also oersa breakfast on the third Sunday of eachmonth. e buet, which runs from 7:30to 11 a.m., includes eggs, bacon, sausage,home fries and pancakes. Sometimes,

French toast and ham are oered.Once people nish eating in the re-

house training room, they migrate out tothe truck oor, which has its own littlesocial society, Fire Chief Timothy Jenckssaid. e people who come every monthtalk to each other, have coee, talk withthe people coming in.

In addition to their standard follow-ing, which has been coming monthly forabout six years, new people learn aboutthem through word of mouth. Police of-cers and reghters from other depart-ments also order meals to go.

Additionally, Taville reghters willdeliver to-go meals to Wequonnoc Vil-lage, an elderly housing home on NorthFih Avenue. If the senior citizens dont

want to eat with the group, the reght-ers will bring the breakfasts to theirrooms.

Because theyre frequently at thefacility, Jencks said they have a very goodfriendship with the elderly residents andare on a rst-name basis with many ofthe 100 tenants. ey get very upset ifI dont go. Its at the point I have to have

coee with them.Money raised through the Taville

Volunteer Fire Departments monthlybreakfast goes into a fund for the re-ghters annual formal awards dinner, as

well as charities, which have included theRed Cross, Tommy Toy Fund, Relay forLife and the Breast Cancer Foundation.

I am very much a people-personand this gets us out into the publics eyea little more, Jencks said. I am a rm be-liever that the Taville Fire Departmentis a business and the people out in our

community are paying for us.

A welcoming

experienceSitting with four members of his

family at First Congregational Church,Bob Grant said he attends communitydinners because its good food and goodcompanionship. Its a good place to meet



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good people. Were all family when weget together.

Sitting across from him were a couplehe hadnt seen in 25 years.

e Rev. William Dunlap of FirstCongregational Church said a lot ofgood fellowship is going on during theevent. ese meals are very popular. Weseem to have the same clientele. I know

there are at least two or three tables, ev-erybody at the table is related somehowor another. ey come to our dinner.en they go to their church dinner.

A lot of people get disappointedwhen we dont meet during the summer,but, obviously, the volunteers that putthese things on want a break, Dunlapadded.

Proceeds from First CongregationalChurchs community meals are used toheat and maintain the church facili-ties, support soup kitchens and spon-sor outreach/mission work, as well as26 anksgiving meals and a family atChristmastime.

Besides the delicious food, MaryGrant, of Lisbon, said, e whole at-mosphere is friendly, like one big, happyfamily.

Another member of the Grant family Peggy Andrews of Lisbon said,Its a nice time for us as a family to gettogether.

Sandra Grant said she enjoys attend-ing the community meals because shegets to know church members in a dier-

ent way.Her husband, Bill, said he likes the

fact that his dinner tasted like a home-cooked meal. He didnt think it tastedbetter than his wifes cooking, but cer-tainly as good. It could never be better.

Commenting on his response, a manat the other end of the table piped up,ats a smart man.

community meals (march 2013)

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