At the Tastes of Community Cooks event on October 2, volunteer cook Alana Sacks (right) presented guest Lydia Rios (left) with appetizer variations on some of the meals regularly provided by Community Cooks, including backed macaroni and cheese squares, polenta balls and mini chicken pot pies. - Photo by Elizabeth Sheeran

Somerville-based Community Cooks feed a growing need

By Elizabeth Sheeran

Several times each month, Vicky I works together with a half dozen or so of her Somerville neighbors to make a full-course meal for 15 to 20 people they’ve never met.

One person cooks the main course. Another prepares a salad. Others make side dishes or desserts. They each cook in their own homes and buy the groceries with their own money. The ingredients are fresh, the food is nutritious, and when it’s all done the meal is delivered to a local social service agency that doesn’t have the means to provide hot meals to its clients.

When she co-founded Community Cooks over 20 years ago in her Westwood Road neighborhood, with an offer to provide home-cooked meals to the Somerville Homeless Coalition, Ms. I and her fellow volunteers had no idea the organization would today be providing over 1,000 hot meals per month at 14 different social service agencies, supported by a network of over 200 volunteers.

“We just thought it was a nice neighborhood thing to do. It was a way for us to say we’re going to do something and do it as a collaborative effort,” said I.

Now the all-volunteer group is laying the foundation for the next 20 years. It kick-started its fundraising recently with Tastes of Community Cooks, a special event held October 2 at the Somerville Museum. The occasion included an art auction, featuring the work of many of the group’s volunteer cooks, and guests were treated to a sampling of the wide variety of hot dishes the cooks provide each month to local agencies. Proceeds from the evening will support the hiring of permanent staff to coordinate the program.

“What we’re trying to do is set this up so that this can continue in the future,” said Ellen Manes-Meunier, who has been a core volunteer with Community Cooks for over 20 years.

Somerville Homeless Coalition Director Mark Alston-Follansbee said the need is greater than ever, with more and more people needing help just as programs are facing government cuts. And he said Community Cooks is unique in the way it pays attention to the special needs of the people it serves, given its mission to provide food that is hearty and home-cooked, but that is also lower in fat, salt and sugar than most institutionally-provided meals.

Dianne Brown, a day program manager at Somerville’s Walnut Street Center, which serves the needs of developmentally disabled adults, said that approach is especially valuable because so many of the center’s clients have special health concerns like diabetes. “They don’t just bring things. They bring sugar free things. They ask what we need,” said Brown.

The center’s lunch room on a recent day was full of program participants who said they enjoyed the lasagna recently served by Community Cooks. Ray Hardy said he also likes the macaroni and cheese and the chicken cacciatore. Pat Decker lists hot dogs and beans and Sloppy Joes among her favorites. And everyone likes the brownies.

“The food they make is very good. It’s like a home-cooked meal,” said program participant Mike Hayes.

And Brown said the impact of the meals goes beyond the food itself. “It’s another person who has thought enough about them to cook a hot meal for them,” said Brown, noting that most center participants are well aware that the meals are cooked by people who aren’t paid to do it.

“They don’t have to do it, but they do it anyway. You just have to say thank you,” said Hayes.

“The message is that the community cares about them, and the food is the vehicle,” said Lawrence Paolella, who has been delivering meals as a Community Cooks volunteer for the past five or six years. “It’s a gift to have this opportunity.”

Manes-Meunier said volunteers come to Community Cooks for all different reasons and with all different skill levels, from professional chefs to novice cooks, but most are looking for a way to help out that can fit within their busy schedules.

“We find that most people have a hard time going somewhere else to work at a scheduled time,” said Manes-Meunier, “but if we say, ‘can you cook a meal for 15 people in your own kitchen?’ you can squeeze that into your normal routine.”

“It was just easy for me,” said Alyssa Napoleon, who has volunteered since moving to Somerville just over a year ago, and leads a team of cooks who provide monthly meals to Respond, a domestic violence shelter. “It’s anonymous. It’s not about them coming back and saying ‘we loved what you made’ or ‘this is what we got out of it.’ It’s more about just knowing that they have a warm home-cooked meal.”

Jean, who asked that her last name not be used, has enjoyed Community Cooks meals at both the Chapel Street homeless shelter and through CASPAR, a substance rehabilitation program, and said she doesn’t need to meet the volunteers from Community Cooks to appreciate what they do. “I can tell by their presentation that they are very caring people,” she said.

“I’ve been in recovery for a long, long time and had a million relapses, so I’m no stranger to institutional carbs, and Community Cooks is the best because they take care to make very healthy food and take the time to list all the ingredients,” said Jean. “Through their good works, their humble presence and the attention they pay to detail, they help many, many people feel special and cared for.”

For more information or to get involved, go to www.communitycooks.org.