Monthly community dinners return to church

TRURO - After two and a half years, monthly dinners are once again being hosted at St. John’s Anglican Church in Truro.

The dinners are put on by an amalgamation of several church groups throughout Colchester County. They have been hosting these dinners at different churches for over 30 years.

Once COVID struck, the dinners had to be put on hold. They were only able to start up again last October, though they have decided to stick with take-out meals for now.

Saturday (Nov. 19) saw several people coming out of the church with Sobeys bags – each filled with a macaroni and cheese meal, a brownie, ginger cookies, an apple and a bottle of water.

Rev. Beverly Devouge, a retired Anglican priest, is the chair of the community dinner program. She spoke about the decision to continue with take-out meals.

“We hoped to do it for September, October and November but with COVID still the way it is, and the flu going around, we decided we’ll look at it again in the spring to see if we’ll switch to in-dining.”

Devouge noted people enjoyed being able to sit down with their meal and chat with others.

“We would set up tables in here, and they liked the community feeling of it – the social aspect of it.”

Despite the change, the dinners haven’t slowed. Devouge said they would average around 80 people per dinner on the best of days.

Within 20 minutes of the start of their last dinner, volunteer Myrna Breene stated they had seen around 25 to 30 people show up for a meal. They were prepared to serve 60.

Breene noted people from several communities had dropped by.

“They’ve come from Hilden, Kemptown ... it’s not only people who can walk — it’s people from all around.”

The volunteers who serve the meals are also varied, many being from different churches, organizations and communities. This includes church groups of several denominations from Truro, Old Barns, Bible Hill, Hilden, Valley and more.

Devouge said they are trying to get other groups involved to help. She said any group that wants to participate is free to join, whether it be other church groups or local clubs.

“The more hands, the lighter the work,” said Devouge.

While the group has decided not to go ahead with a dine-in Christmas dinner this year, they will be holding another take-out dinner on Dec. 10 from 3 to 5 p.m. at St. John’s Anglican. They plan to make it a “goolash meal,” with pasta, hamburgers, peas and corn. Everyone is welcome to come.