Jan. 13, 2020 Annual Spaghetti Dinner
Mangiare, mangiare! Bueno appitito! A festive, food-centric, family affair is the best description of the annual Spaghetti Dinner at Christ Church, and you’re invited! Over a decade ago our partnership with St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in City Heights began with a desire to support their Neighborhood Food Pantry. The fledgling Service Ministry group, led by David Hopkins, cooked up the idea of a dinner, a meal that everyone would come to because, who doesn’t love a yummy meal AND the price of the meal was only was a donation of food to the pantry. We wanted everyone to play a role so day school students were invited to participate at all levels; sixth grade students served as hostesses and wait staff, first grade students wrapped napkins and utensils and decorated placemats, and the entire school held a food drive prior to the event.
Parishioners came and brought friends, day school families arrived with lots of hungry children, and the Service Ministry served up pot and pots of pasta and sauce as everyone dined family style in the parish hall. Dessert and coffee were offered in the day school Science Lab for a donation to the 5th grade's water for Navajo Nation project. The dinner has been so successful that early on two separate seatings were necessary to accommodate the crowds. Up to 400 meals of spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread have been served in one single evening, not to mention the boxes and boxes of food items that are collected for the Neighborhood Food Pantry.
The pantry is open two days a week at St. Mark’s and serves a population in City Heights that is often food insecure; low-income and refugee families, seniors, and the unhoused. While the parish of Christ Church collects food items for the pantry all year long, the great influx of donations on this single night can provide many months’ worth of provisions.
You won’t want to miss this year’s dinner on Monday, January 27. There are two serving times – 5:30 and 6:15 p.m. so please reply to the evite on Monday, January 20. If you are not on our mailing list give the parish office a call!