Friendship Feast
Joe Levitch
I found out about CABI and Friendship Feast several years ago. CABI has been hosting it for decades, along with a group of downtown, faith-based organizations that teamed up to provide weekly meals for the hungry. I got involved when John Lewellen was in charge and we were doing a potato bar. John would bake the potatoes ahead of time and we would set up tables and welcome guests into the First Presbyterian Church dining room. In two serving lines, we would dish out a made-to-order potato with all the toppings, a salad, some fruit, a roll, and dessert. We typically served 50 or so people on the 4th Thursday of every month.
Then COVID hit and John handed me the baton. We pivoted to a grab-and-go sack meal with a kosher hotdog in an amazing pretzel bun, chips, granola bars, fruit & veggies, cheese, plus a dessert. One day, I saw a cool partitioned container at a supermarket and started to supplement our grab-and-go meal with a snack box of vegetables, crackers, turkey cubes and cheese chunks. On occasion, we mix it up and I have a chili food truck come by. That's a big treat.
We have been blessed with a core of volunteers who have braved the disruption of COVID and adapted to all sorts of situations. We have had teenagers and families volunteer from all over the Boise and CABI communities. We have accepted donations from kids who collect their birthday and holiday money, to appreciative members of the community who just wanted to say “thank you, here… I insist that you take this money, do something good with it.” Many who cannot participate and bring food give a financial donation to offset some of the food staples we need.
We currently serve 30 or so people each month. Any leftover meals are hand-delivered to other grateful recipients by the Interfaith Sanctuary. As we ease out of the pandemic, we hope to return to the good old days. I miss the old potato bar, the camaraderie of serving and eating indoors with our guests, cleaning up, and doing the dishes in the commercial kitchen.
This is a level of community involvement that satisfies my inner Mitzvah Maker. I want to share this feeling and experience with anyone in the CABI community who wants to scratch that itch. Look for us in CABI’s amazing eBlast.
Friendship Feast--
