February 20, 2023
by Martin Mendoza, Activities Coordinator, Wichita PrimeTimers®
Prime Timers is all about having fun. And as Prime Timers, we can have fun in anything that we do.
For years now, Wichita PrimeTimers® has, like other chapters, been giving back to the community in a variety of ways including feeding the homeless. Every winter. many homeless men and women frequent the local Emergency Homeless Shelter to eat and keep warm from the frigid temperatures. According to the Williams Institute, 43% of clients are served by drop-in centers, 30% are street-outreach clients, 30% of clients utilize housing programs and 43% of homeless youth identify as LGBTQ+ (https://nationalhomeless.org/issues/lgbt).
As in years past, Wichita PrimeTimers® responded with making dinner and breakfast for the homeless on Sunday, January 15th. And as in recent years, our goal was to feed one hundred persons.
Our first step in the process was to identify volunteers and establish a menu. We have many members who volunteer to help cook, transport and serve; oftentimes, we have more volunteers than what we need. The dinner menu, which has varied in the past, included serving goulash, garlic bread, a side of green beans, and desserts. The breakfast menu was a variety of breakfast sandwiches, a fruit cup, and a snack. The shelter provides the drinks, flatware, napkins and Styrofoam divided covered plates. The response was great with volunteers and donations of food and money to help defray the costs. In fact, the balance of the food costs was underwritten by George and Jim.
In the past, we had relied upon the use of Table of Hope’s kitchen to cook the meal and provide transportation from there. Unfortunately, this year, their food distribution apparatus prevented us from utilizing their kitchen. Thankfully, our member, George R., offered his large kitchen as well as his skill as a caterer.
The day before, a small group of us prepared the food which was then cooked the next day by more volunteers. The food was loaded into a few cars where it was unloaded at the shelter by a crew of eight who were serving that evening. It was assembly line work with all hands on deck. We have not had as many guests as we had that evening but it was the largest group that we have ever served in recent memory. We ran out of some food, but had plenty of goulash so no one went hungry. We left the breakfast foods for the shelter staff to serve the next morning.
I want to thank everyone who contributed in whatever way to make this annual event a success. We enjoyed and had fun in making and serving the food. And the shelter was appreciative of our service. We look forward to doing it again next year.
