Pop-up community dinner
Calcutta, St. Clair Township first responders prepare meal to lessen impacts of delayed SNAP benefits on families
Volunteer Glenn Brian Kendall prepares to drop a basket of rotini in boiling water Sunday afternoon during a free community drive-thri pasta dinner at Calcutta Fire Department. Kendall is a St. Clair Township police sergeant. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)
Volunteer Glenn Brian Kendall, far right, cooks boxes of rotini in a converted deep fryer filled with water instead of oil Sunday afternoon during a free community drive-thru pasta dinner at Calcutta Fire Department, as firefighters Liam Carver and Alex Fantone look on. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)
Calcutta Fire Department Lt. Randy Schneider surveys a station kitchen Sunday afternoon while components for a community drive-thru pasta dinner are compiled. Due to current SNAP benefits’ situation and the community need, the department decided to hold the dinner, which distributed 107 dinners and desserts to drive-thru customers. The remaining food went to the House Of Grace Resource Center, where it will be distributed as part of its food program. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)
Volunteer Glenn Brian Kendall prepares to drop a basket of rotini in boiling water Sunday afternoon during a free community drive-thri pasta dinner at Calcutta Fire Department. Kendall is a St. Clair Township police sergeant. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)
Volunteer Glenn Brian Kendall, far right, cooks boxes of rotini in a converted deep fryer filled with water instead of oil Sunday afternoon during a free community drive-thru pasta dinner at Calcutta Fire Department, as firefighters Liam Carver and Alex Fantone look on. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)
Calcutta Fire Department Lt. Randy Schneider surveys a station kitchen Sunday afternoon while components for a community drive-thru pasta dinner are compiled. Due to current SNAP benefits’ situation and the community need, the department decided to hold the dinner, which distributed 107 dinners and desserts to drive-thru customers. The remaining food went to the House Of Grace Resource Center, where it will be distributed as part of its food program. (Photo by Stephanie Ujhelyi)
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CALCUTTA -- When cooking several dozen boxes of rotini for a community dinner in very little time is a priority, one has to get innovative.
Calcutta Fire Department got a little help from its sister First Responders at St. Clair Township Police Department, when it held a pop-up free community dinner Sunday afternoon after the delays with SNAP benefits were announced.
The CFD Facebook page announced the drive-thru pasta dinner over the weekend.
Firefighters also accepted unexpired non-perishable food items that were donated to the House of Grace Resource Center's food pantry along with the undistributed food.
Each meal included rotini with tomato sauce, meatballs and a dessert.
Additional sponsors for the event included Dr. Louis Volino, Fire Chief David and Lorie McCoy, and Bonnie and Brian Kendall.
While paramedic Sue Allison prepped the pasta dinner in the station's kitchen alongside Lorie McCoy and firefighter wife Jamie Palmer, Glenn Brian Kendall cooked the rotini in a deep fryer filled with water instead of oil.
Glenn Brian Kendall was off-duty from his duties as a St. Clair Township police sergeant.
Allison said that the kitchen was preparing a minimum of 200 meals for hungry diners, who would pick up their individual meals in to-go containers within the station bay.
Currently all SNAP benefit allotments are suspended until sufficient federal funding is provided. Calcutta fire Lt. Randy Schneider said that 45 meals were given out within the first half hour of the event, as hungry diners began lining up several hours earlier.
This was the department's first attempt at a drive-thru dinner, and Schneider said that overall they were pleased with how well it went.
"Our amazing community never disappoints," he explained before thanking the CFD, volunteers, their families and sponsors. "You make calling this community home that much sweeter each day with each act of kindness you show and display to help others."
More than 105 dinners were distributed during that two hours and the balance of food went to the House of Grace Resource Center, along with the non-perishable goods, to be enjoyed by their clientele.
sujhelyi@mojonews.com