Free Community Meals Program Scaling Back In Hatboro

HATBORO, PA —For more than two years, cars have lined up outside the Hatboro Baptist Church every other Saturday to pick up a free meal.

Through the pandemic, the church's Community Meals program kept borough residents from going hungry by offering dinner on the second and fourth Saturdays of each month.

But with rising food and supply costs and shrinking donations, church officials have announced that they are scaling back the program to once a month.

"We have had to make the difficult decision at this time to reduce the frequency of these free meals to once a month," church officials said. "Unfortunately, the cost of supplies has increased while funding for this program has gone down."

Meals will be served on the second Saturday of each month.

The church has posted the menu for this Saturday: Meatloaf, mashed potatoes with gravy, a vegetable, and dessert. The menu is subject to change and the meal is available while supplies last.

The Free Meals To Go will be offered from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 12, with a drive-through service at the church parking lot off East Montgomery Avenue. Walkups are also welcome.

The next meal will be served on Sept. 9.

In a Patch profile earlier this year, organizers said that more than than 13,000 meals have been served and the church prepares between 300-400 meals every two weeks. The expense with each offering is between $500 and $1,000, church officials said.

About 20-30 church volunteers pitch in, either by cooking the food or handing out the meals.

On a Saturday in January, Patch witnessed the program's busiest day ever since the program started in December 2020: when 392 vehicles were served.

Hatboro Baptist Church officials said this week that its ministry runs on 100 percent monetary donations.

Church officials are asking supporters to consider making a donation to the Community Meals program to help keep "this much-needed ministry going for your community."

Donations can be made online through the Hatboro Baptist Church website. Click here to make a donationand select "Community Meals” from the dropdown.