WELLFLEET — In the kitchen of the United Methodist Church’s banquet hall, under a hand-painted sign that reads “safe harbor,” a group of six chefs zigzag around each other, chopping lemons, opening cans of corn, cracking eggs into a giant bowl. They have 24 hours to prepare a meal for 80. On this week’s menu: filet mignon with béarnaise sauce, baked cod, vegetable quiche, corn casserole, salad, and smashed Brussels sprouts and broccoli with aioli.
They call themselves the “Limp Briskets,” and they are one of five teams who volunteer at the 246 Community Kitchen, a nonprofit that provides free weekly meals on Tuesday evenings from October through April.
This year is the community kitchen’s 10th, and it’s the first full season back indoors after switching to a “Soup’s On” program during the pandemic. For that, they prepared quarts of soup and loaves of bread for pickup.
Volunteers catch up with each other as they pull white tablecloths over round tables and place upside-down plates procured from the swap shop. In just a day’s time, the plates will be flipped over, and dinner and conversation will ensue.
246 Community Kitchen’s director, Janet Drohan, calls the scene a “winter community locus.” The Tuesday dinners are for everybody, she says, for those who are food-compromised and those who are looking to stave off social isolation.
“It’s not need-based, just community-based,” says volunteer Jan Potter. At the front of the room, a donation bowl sits on a table “to help us go the extra meal,” says Drohan. It gets filled with $100 or so a week from community members who can afford to help. The organization uses that money to buy fresh produce, Drohan says, but the rest of the food is donated from local sources, including the Wellfleet and Boston food pantries.
Drohan oversees food procurement, which means the kitchen’s pantry and freezer is always brimming with new donations. The five teams rotate weeks, and a team leader develops a menu based on what is in the pantry. “It’s like a TV challenge,” Drohan says.
For example, when the Fox & Crow closed its doors, owner Trudy Vermehren donated leftover groceries to the kitchen, which meant the team leading dinner that week had to ask, “What do we make with 24 pounds of cheese?” says director of operations Amy Carow. “Obviously we had to make lasagna.”
Menu development requires innovation and a little bit of competition, says Drohan. “Amy makes the best meatloaf in the whole world, so no one else is going to even try it,” says Drohan.
“Everyone tries to raise their game,” Carow says. But the bar is already high. “We make a mean minestrone, and a cardiac arrest macaroni and cheese,” she says.
The fun isn’t just in the menus — teams flex their creative muscles when coming up with their names. Besides the Limp Briskets, there is “Soup-a-licious,” “The Wash-a-shores,” “The Dinner Belles,” and the “Salty Souls.”
And to stoke the fire a little bit more, Drohan gives out awards to teams at the end of each season. Past prizes included one for “the volunteer who finally learned how to empty the garbage,” and, “the team that uses the most pots and pans,” Drohan says.
The meals are made from scratch, so teams often do what they can to prepare on Monday before turning on the ovens by 2 p.m. on Tuesday for the 5 p.m. opening. But the volunteers are indefatigable. “It’s about the community feeding the community,” Drohan says.
Extra helpings come in the form of every other week visits to the dinners by nurses from the Barnstable County Visiting Nurses Association. They’re available upstairs from the dining room, offering tests for blood pressure and blood sugar as well as counseling.
“Then they come eat with us,” Drohan says. Important disclaimer: “Anyone who wants dessert isn’t going to get it unless they get their blood pressure checked,” Drohan says. She can’t help herself: she’s a retired nurse.
The dinner begins with a speech from Drohan; she announces winter activities and free resources like Mass Appeal and the food pantry. “I then have to tell a joke,” Drohan says, excusing the occasional bomb. “I’m not a jokester.”
Then volunteer Dana Franchetti sits down at the piano and accompanies the guests through the meal. Old friends sit next to strangers, families sit next to singletons. “It looks like a scene from a Hallmark movie,” says Potter.
“It’s about the preservation of dignity,” says Drohan.
WELLFLEET
246 Community Kitchen
Dinner on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. Free. Everyone is welcome.
Wellfleet United Methodist Church, 246 Main St.
Mustard Seed
Delivery of two hot meals, twice a week, free, for people who need short-term help. Tuesday and Thursday mornings. Call 508-349-2049.
Wellfleet Food Pantry
Open Mon. 3 to 6 p.m., Wed. 4 to 6 p.m., Thurs. 10 a.m. to noon.
Grace Chapel, 25 Lieutenant Island Rd.
508-349-3036
