Free student-served lunch returns to St. Paul’s on September 12

A free monthly lunch served by Fort Erie high school students returns to St. Paul’s Anglican Church on September 12, and volunteers hope more residents will take a seat this year.

The Idylewylde Community Lunch takes place on the second Saturday of each month, with students from Greater Fort Erie Secondary School (GFESS) cooking and serving full sit-down meals, free to anyone who walks in.

Rebecca Parton, a longtime volunteer with the lunch, says the program serves people who need the food and people who just need the company.

“It doesn’t have to be necessarily that you’re in need,” she told Fort Erie Radio. “It’s just if you need that social connection, you just want to come and be with other people and have that opportunity.”

Parton says pensions and fixed incomes only stretch so far, and a full hot meal can go a long way. She has contacted local agencies this year to reach residents who could benefit.

Volunteers typically serve between 50 and 80 meals in the hall at the back of the church, starting around 11 a.m. and ending around 1:30 p.m.

Diners eat at set tables with place settings, coffee and tea. Meals have included spaghetti and meatballs, and roast pork with mashed potatoes, gravy, a vegetable and garlic bread.

“It’s like being in a restaurant, which some people don’t get an opportunity to do in the circumstances that we’re all in right now,” Parton said. “So that’s also a nice way to create that opportunity to have a nice sit-down meal which you may not otherwise be able to afford these days, right?”

Attendance rises and falls with the weather because some diners walk or bike to the church, Parton says. She recalled one regular who arrived soaking wet after a planned ride never showed up, and said she made a call to Niagara Transit afterward to try to sort it out.

“These opportunities are there, but if there’s a barrier to transportation, then that kind of negates the whole purpose of it,” she said.

The lunch began about 12 years ago as a partnership between the church and GFESS culinary teacher Afshin Keyvani, whose cooking and baking students prepare and serve each meal.

Volunteers encourage the students to sit and eat with guests, who ask them about school, cooking and their plans after graduation. Some students now arrive with younger siblings, including children as young as 10 who clear tables.

“It’s kind of grown into something bigger than just the meal,” Parton said. “It’s where education meets community, meets the social.”

Parton, who worked for the school board for 35 years, says the face-to-face service teaches teenagers something a classroom can’t.

“I think it’s important for the students to take responsibility for the community that they live in too,” she said.

Members of the church’s Victorian Tea/St. Nick’s Ladies set tables, help serve and guide the younger volunteers, and Rev. Dan Bennett also supports the program.

Lococo’s in Niagara Falls donates produce, baked goods and other food that guests can take home, which Parton says helps people for a few days after the lunch. Businesses can also sponsor an individual lunch.

The lunches usually continue through the school year, sometimes into June, depending on exam schedules.

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