TRURO — Volunteers at the Truro Community Kitchen are as perfectly seasoned as the dishes they prepare. So, on Tuesdays the kitchen at the Christian Union Church on Shore Road is the picture of streamlined culinary chaos.
One or two lead cooks put finishing touches on a hot meal (protein, veggies, and a starch) as others package salads and donated Bagel Hound bagels into paper bags lined up in the order in which they will be dropped off.
Last week, the team assembled 100 meals, but the number generally hovers around 110, says the community kitchen’s co-founder, Wendy Lurie. Lurie, her husband, David Sobel, and their child, Eli Sobel, launched the organization in April 2020. It was an idea that hatched naturally around the dining table, Lurie says, in response to the needs that arose as the pandemic took hold. But the need hasn’t ended, she says: three years later, the kitchen hasn’t missed a single week.
The meals prepared here are for everyone. “We don’t ask anyone to qualify in any way,” Lurie says. “We want to be there for whoever needs us, whatever that means to them.”
Almost all the ingredients volunteers begin with here are purchased, “and food’s expensive,” says Lurie. Which means that monetary donations are crucial. But the Truro Community Kitchen also receives produce from Sustainable CAPE once a month, plus occasional donations from local stores, says Lurie.
The group organizes an online auction each fall to provide funds for the coming year. It features donated craft items, gift certificates, and local services and is online now at the Truro Community Kitchen website through Nov. 28.
Truro Community Kitchen operates year-round, but in the summer the number of people wanting to cook outstrips demand. “I get disappointed emails from people who would like to volunteer, but we don’t have room for them,” Lurie says. It’s true that cooking together is a salve that wards off social isolation, she says.
Right now, the kitchen operates by delivery only. That’s due to space, Lurie says. But having a venue for in-person meals is a goal that she is actively working toward. She presented the idea to the Walsh Property Community Planning Committee last December.
In the meantime, those involved find ways to connect. “Our drivers have developed really close relationships with some of the participants,” Lurie says.
In addition to the rotating reserve of volunteers, the kitchen employs Kevin Lindsay, who brought years of experience cooking in restaurants, including at Napi’s in Provincetown. Lindsay cooks every Tuesday except in the summer. His presence “takes away the group’s anxiety about cooking,” Lurie says. “He knows exactly what is going on.”
The kitchen’s delivery routes, planned with the Truro Police Dept., extend to all corners of town. And earlier this year, the kitchen agreed to be on standby for meal prep when the state temporarily housed six families at an Eastham motel.
In that instance, Lurie resorted to a core community kitchen principle: “We don’t say no; we just won’t,” she said. “We’ll figure out a way.”
TRURO
Truro Community Kitchen
Tuesday deliveries consist of a dinner plus a sandwich for lunch for as many meals as a household may need. Allergies/dietary restrictions are accommodated.
To sign up, email [email protected] or call or text Eli Sobel at 973-868-7526.
Truro Food Pantry
Open to Truro residents Tues. and Wed. 10 a.m.-noon; other times by appointment. Community Center, 7 Standish Way. For more info or to sign up: 617-515-4342 or [email protected].
