Wake Forest Community Table
April Newsletter
Meals Served Since April 20, 2020:
Hope House:
11,440
Wellington Park:
800
Discontinued in March Due to Park Closure
Olive Branch Baptist Church:
6,610
Happy Second Birthday to Us
(plus 5 summers before the pandemic)!!

On April 20, 2020 a few of our dedicated volunteers and our partners at Hope House started serving 150 meals three nights a week under that big oak tree. Since the start of the pandemic we have formed so many friendships by serving meals, produce, distributing clothing from Note in the Pocket, hygiene items that partners collected and sharing lots of stories and laughter with all the folks who gather. With your continued donations of time and money we have served over 16,000 meals and tens of thousands of pounds of produce in our community, and walked with each other through this pandemic! Thank you!

Partnerships and Planning:
The past two months have been focused on building partnerships and planning for the next quarter. Here are some highlights:
-Please mark your calendars for our next Table Gathering on June 23 at 6pm. This will be a walking tour on the Seminary Campus led by Wake Forest University professors and Sarah Soleim, PhD (Manager of Community and Academic Learning and Wake Forest Historical Museum) entitled "Seen and Unseen." Professors and an archeologist from the University will lead short historical talks at three different locations on campus that will address "Slavery on Campus," "Lost Cause and Jim Crow on Campus," and "Faith and Community on Campus" some of the subtopics will be the life of Thomas Jeffries, African American Labor on Campus in the 20th century and founding of African Chapel & Olive Branch. Then we will gather to discuss the tour in smaller table groups. I will be sending out details and a Sign Up Genius for this event in the coming weeks.

-We will return to serving meals EVERY WEDNESDAY at Olive Branch Baptist Church from 6-7pm starting on May 4. Use the Sign Up Genius link above. Wake Forest Baptist Church and Olive Branch will will sponsor the dinners on the second, fourth and fifth Wednesdays of the month and our new partner Jackie Adams from Oink n Moo food truck will be preparing meals on the first and third Wednesdays. Please read more about this partnership below!

-We are so excited to begin receiving the bounty of our community garden partners at the Wake Forest Presbyterian Giving Garden and the Northeast Community Garden. Check out how you can help these community gardens and our program.

-We are also so thrilled to have started food harvesting partnerships with Olive Garden (WF) and Starbucks on Retail Drive. Each week they donate around 70 pounds of food each that they did not sell at their restaurants for us to distribute.
Welcome Jackie Adams and Oink n Moo Food Truck to our Community Table!
We will be contracting with Jackie and her team to prepare meals on the first and third Wednesdays of the month at Olive Branch this summer. Chef Jackie would love our community to know that her team:
"Is a group of people that love making people happy with food! Oink n Moo by Two Brothers was founded in 2018 by owner Jeff Groce. Oink N Moo started off in a 12ft trailer and have expanded to a full service mobile kitchen with the ability to serve any cuisine. We have the best smoked meats and homemade sides available if you see us in your neighborhood! In 2020 at the early stages of the Covid pandemic we partnered with a local non profit in the area to feed those most affected by school and business closings in the area for free. We have continued to help those in the community by hosting annual free food giveaways and events for kids! We currently provide daily meals for the seniors in our community and are honored to have partnered with Wake Forest Community Table to help provide meals for all."
We have amazing partners- Special Thanks to:

WF Presbyterian Giving Garden and Northeast Community Garden for providing fresh produce to our program-even in the Winter!

Chef Gwen Sneed who provides home cooked meals each Monday night at Hope House.

Note in the Pocket: This awesome organization has provided dozens of bags of clothing to our neighbors over the past two months. Sixteen of the bags have gone to two refugee families who are living in Wake Forest after fleeing Burma and Afghanistan. We are so grateful for this amazing program!

Tri Area Ministry: Continues to administer the the Wake County Food Hub fresh produce program and shared Bombas' large donation of socks with our program. Everyone was so grateful to have new pairs of Bombas last month.

Our dedicated volunteers who show up every week in all types of weather to meet new people, feed people and love their neighbors!

*All of our generous donors and partners who continue to support the program with time, treasure and talent!

Hope House and Wake Forest Christian Church for each sponsoring one week of meals again this month and sending wonderful volunteers to pack and serve on Monday nights.

Congresswoman Deborah Ross met with community leaders in February to discuss affordable housing, education, food security and economic development. It was an honor to represent WF Community Table at this gathering of leaders.
Please let me know if you have any questions:
919-229-9015