Among Friends Meal Program
Among Friends is a ministry of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. Its mission is to provide free nutritious prepared meals in a safe and welcoming environment to all in the community seeking food or fellowship. Among Friends has been serving free meals since 1983, and currently offers three meals every week. It serves dinner on Monday evenings and lunch on Tuesday and Friday afternoons, and it’s the only program in the greater Newburyport area that provides three meals a week. In 2019 Among Friends served over 6,800 prepared meals to the Newburyport community. In 2020, during the coronavirus pandemic, the program served over 6,000 people just between the months of April and October, and never missed a meal served.
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Typically, meal programs rely on heavily processed, carb-heavy commercial foods served in a cafeteria-like setting. Since its inception, one of Among Friend’s goals has been to provide prepared nutritious and balanced meals to guests. Regular guests are primarily the homeless, the elderly, people in recovery, the unemployed, and people on fixed incomes. Providing more nutritious meals promotes better physical health and wellbeing in those involved. In 2018 Among Friends substantially increased its freezer and refrigerator capacity, allowing the program to take greater advantage of bulk purchases and donations of fresh and frozen protein and produce in meals. Most of the food now comes from the Boston Food Bank. Volunteers drive weekly to pick up fresh meat and produce.
In addition to offering nutritional meals, Among Friends encourages socialization and treats all of its guests with dignity and respect. Many guests suffer from loneliness, depression, feelings of guilt and shame, and isolation, others are just looking for companionship. Among Friends volunteers serve guests at their seat restaurant-style, on real plates and silverware, and volunteers are encouraged to interact and mix with the guests. Studies have shown that socialization helps to improve mental health and that better mental health translates into better physical health, working toward overall wellness. Temporarily, due to COVID-19, socialization and dining in our parish hall has been suspended. Meals are collected from the parish hall as take-away meals or are delivered to people’s homes.
Check the calendar for the specific times of regularly scheduled meals. If you would like to volunteer as a cook, server, greeter, driver or friends, please call the church office at 978-465-5351 to speak to our Parish Administrator.