By BREEANA LAUGHLIN/YachatsNews.com
WALDPORT — Sweet smells of maple syrup linger in the air at the Community Presbyterian Church in Waldport many Saturdays.
“We need six breakfasts,” a volunteer shouts from behind a makeshift takeout window. Kitchen volunteers spring into action to plate up the free community breakfasts, while other volunteers busily pack a box of produce and other food staples to hand out to hungry residents of the central Oregon coast.
The longtime tradition first by Seashore Family Literacy and now Community Presbyterian Church of providing free breakfasts has grown into a full-force operation to help out anyone who is struggling to get enough to eat.
“Everybody is welcome to get breakfast and a box if they need it. We don’t care who, what, where or why,” said Sherri Seaman, a church volunteer in charge of the free breakfast program. “We don’t really care what situation they are in; we just want them to know we are here.”
Before the coronavirus pandemic, the program fed an average of 35 people every Saturday inside the church’s fellowship hall. Now, the takeout breakfast program serves an average of 68 people each week and gives out an average of 28 boxes of food – designed to feed about 66 people.
“Our largest number of people served in March was 79 people,” said Barbara Hare, the church office administrator.
The Saturday breakfast was started by Sentilla McKinley at Seashore Family Literacy center and moved to Community Presbyterian Church in 2012. A group of dedicated volunteers – some affiliated with the church, from other congregations and from the community at large – have kept the program running every Saturday, even throughout the pandemic.
Presbyterian church pastors Mark and Wendy Olson were part of the core group who kept the free breakfast program going during the pandemic. Wendy Olson said it is a program that makes sense for both church members and the entire community.
“We take the community part of the church very seriously and feeding the hungry is one of the very basic mandates of our faith,” she said. “We also had the facility and the resources to be able to address that need.”
As restrictions have been lifted, more volunteers have stepped up to join in the effort. Volunteers have been vaccinated and continue to wear masks.
“We have volunteers from our church and also people who just saw us on the internet or who heard about us and wanted to help,” Seaman said. “We have a base group of us that are here almost every week. We are crazy enough that we enjoy a bit chaos.”
Although the program is growing substantially, it runs on a small stipend from the church and from community donations.
“Our support comes mostly from the church – but it’s not a lot,” Seaman said, who tries to buy food items in bulk whenever possible. She and other volunteers keep their eye out for sales throughout the week. C&K Market in Yachats donates a variety of fresh vegetables and fruit each week and a handful of community members donate extra food from their gardens and pantries.
Meal effort expands
The free breakfast program started out as just that – a free breakfast served to community members each week. Then organizers began to notice the community need was larger than that.
“We would get extra stuff we wouldn’t use for breakfast so we just gave it away. More and more people started asking for not just the breakfasts but also for food in general.”
Now, anyone who comes to get a breakfast can also get a box of food to take home.
Seaman said each week her volunteers see a variety of people in need. Some are homeless, some are elderly, some are families with single parents and young children. Some come every week while others just stop by now and again.
All that is needed for a breakfast and a box of food is a first name and a household size, so volunteers know how much food to provide. Other than that, no questions are asked.
“For some of them this is the only prepared hot meal that they get all week,” Seaman said. “Today, we had four families and all of them have children. We are feeding a lot of people. There is a huge need.
“Donations are the biggest part we lack,” she said. “We don’t lack in the number of people who come in to get food to eat.”
The volunteer coordinator said her best success stories have been seeing some of the people she served come back in to volunteer or provide a donation.
“Even if it’s only a dollar – it means more to me than if someone had given me $200 because it shows the program is working,” Seaman said. “They are getting to where they need to be and they are giving back in whatever capacity they can.”
Organizers are continuously looking for support to sustain and grow the free breakfast and food box programs.
“This is a scrappy, generous, resourceful congregation, so we have been making a go of it for years – but we would love to be able to expand, especially with the food we give through food boxes,” said Wendy Olson.
Anyone who would like to volunteer their time, provide a monetary gift or give a food donation can contact the Community Presbyterian Church’s administrative office at 541-563-2168. A “Give Now” donation button is also located at the bottom of the church’s homepage. Clicking on the Saturday Food Program option will direct funds solely toward this program.
- Breeana Laughlin is a Waldport-area freelance writer who can be reached at Breeana4@Yahoo.com