Sprinkling festive joy at St. Francis Community Kitchen

LCO, December 2022

For many years, Lighthouse Center Oregon (LCO) has donated baked goods and wholesome food for the hot meals that St. Francis Community Kitchen serves twice weekly to people in need. At Thanksgiving, LCO delivers freshly baked bread, rolls, and pastries. Read our story Giving to those in need during Thanksgiving.

St. Francis Community Kitchen hosted a special Christmas meal for the low-income and homeless community on December 19, 2022. They estimated that 210 meals would be served. LCO offered to prepare and gift the entire Christmas meal. LCO proposed a menu of homemade lentil stew, fresh garden salad, bread, pastries, fruits, and nuts. For an extra sprinkle of festive joy, LCO also decided to donate 60 individual gift bags. LCO was pleased to collaborate with St. Francis Community Kitchen on this festive project.

LCO volunteers gathered at Lighthouse Center Bakery (LCB) to help with the meal preparation. In the commercial kitchen, teams baked the bread and pastries, chopped vegetables, cooked the lentil stew, and prepared the salad. In LCB’s dining area, another team assembled 60 individual gift bags packed with fresh fruit, nuts, dried fruit, and teas. Twenty-five volunteers came from near and far for this special project. Together they shared joy, smiles and laughter as they worked in their small teams.

When everything was ready, LCO volunteers delivered the meal and gift bags to St. Francis Community Kitchen. The kitchen crew at St. Francis Community Kitchen had been given the day off to provide them a Christmas respite with their families and loved ones. So, LCO volunteers helped to set up the dining area and put out all the food and gift bags.

St. Francis Community Kitchen said their guests had been eagerly awaiting the meal and were excited to have food prepared by LCO. The meal and gifts were genuinely appreciated and received in love and gratitude by those who came to partake in this special festive event.