Free Meals Program Feeding Needy In Hatboro

HATBORO, PA —On a chilly mid-January day, volunteers of the Hatboro Baptist Church are bundled up and ready to serve.

As each car arrives before stopping at a picnic table, the volunteers grab a plastic bag and fill it with a Styrofoam container of baked chicken, stuffing and mixed vegetables, a drink, and a dessert. They offer a knit cap or scarf as well before serving the next motorist.

On this day, the line of cars wraps around the parking lot of the York Road church. On this day, the cars keep coming and coming.

On that day, the Hatboro Baptist Church set a record for its Meals To Go program, serving 392 vehicles.

"It's expanding. More and more people are hearing about it. It's a bigger need than anyone anticipated. It's literally just word of mouth," said Stacie Burke, the church's community support liaison.

The church offers free meals on the second and fourth Saturday of each month and this Saturday will mark another offering since the program began in December 2020.

Saturday's meal consists of sweet and sour pork with vegetables over rice, fruit, and dessert. Meals will be served from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.

The next meal following this Saturday's program will be March 11.

The church said that walk-ups are welcome and that anyone requesting drive-thru service should enter the church parking lot off East Montgomery Avenue.

Anyone can also pick up a meal for a friend in need, no questions asked, organizers said.

Burke remembers serving 100 people for that first meal. It was Baked Ziti, vegetables, fruit, dessert, and bread.

She said the program came about when the pandemic struck as local restaurants started providing meals during difficult times.

"We started seeing lines around town," she said. "We started to understand food insecurity and wanted to help."

The church did a test run and made an announcement about the program's launch on its Facebook page. That attracted about 100 people.

But now the program has grown by four times that number.

"It's overwhelming in a good way," Burke said in a phone interview with Patch Friday. "It's a blessing that we can do this two weeks out of the month. But it's a mixed blessing. We're glad we can help and are grateful that we can fill in the gaps. But the bigger picture is we'd rather there not be a need."

Since the program started, Burke said more than 13,000 meals have been served and the church always prepares between 300-400 meals every two weeks. The expense with each offering is between $500 and $1,000, she said.

She said about 20-30 church volunteers pitch in, either by cooking the food or handing it out. The group also offers other items such as clothing and hygiene products.

"This is very much a team effort," she said.

The program receives donations and also local restaurants will offer food when they can.

"Hatboro is a great community," Burke said. "We all think about how we can help each other out."