Ways to Serve a Meal
Provide a Dinner
Thank you for your interest in providing a meal for the SECU Family House!
Having food available in the house will help guests avoid having to go to grocery stores and restaurants where the risk of exposure is heightened. At a time when our patients and caregivers may be feeling even more isolated, and perhaps homesick, it’s a great time to show them the love of our community.
Here is how you can help provide families in medical crisis with a meal that keeps them strong, warms their hearts, and calms their nerves.
Here is how you can help:
- Find a date that works for you. Use the online calendar to sign up.
- Please indicate your planned MENU and make a note of what others are bringing around your date, in hopes of not duplicating menus in the same week.
- Indicate yes/no if the food will already be individually packaged. While individually-packaged meals are helpful, meals may be delivered in large pans/boxes/trays and staff members will divide the food into to-go containers in the Family House kitchen.
- Want to divide the food at home? This kind of clamshell container is affordable, eco-friendly, and works great. Or, the Family House can provide you with containers in advance; please contact Emily for details at emily.kaartunen@familyhousews.org.
- Provide a meal for 35-40 people. Use one of the online calendars below to sign up. If you would like to sign up for a later date, please contact Lindley.Curtis@familyhousews.org.
- Meals need to be dropped off at the Family House by 5:00pm.
- Meals may be catered and delivered by local restaurants or prepared off site in volunteers’ homes.
- If the food is not already individually packaged, we ask that volunteers limit dinners to 1 entree, 1-2 sides, and 1 dessert (rather than a potluck-style with lots of different options). This will simplify the process of putting the food into to-go containers at the Family House.
- All food needs to be dropped off in disposable containers.
- Examples of menus:
- individually wrapped club sandwiches, small bags of chips, clementines or Cuties, and individually wrapped brownies
- pans of baked chicken, pans of green beans, pans of mac & cheese, and a sheet cake
- pans of chicken casserole, pans of steamed mixed veges, rolls, and pans of blueberry cobbler
- individually wrapped chicken salad croissants, apples, and individually wrapped Moon Pies
- 11 large pizzas, large bags of prepared salad with small packets of dressing, and cookies
Even though groups cannot get together to prepare the meals on site, consider asking friends and group members to collaborate by dropping off various parts of a meal. Looking for ideas? Let us know how we can help.
You’ll receive confirmation and reminders from the Family House!
If you don’t find a date that works for you, please consider making a donation in the form of a gift card or a monetary donation that is designated for meals.
Contribute to a Potluck Dinner
Scheduled for the first and third Monday of every month, Merry Meals are designed for individuals who like to cook, but might not be able to provide a complete meal for everyone at the Family House.
Collectively, you can provide a portion of the main dish or one side item and feed the entire Family House! Twice a month, we will have the dates and menus posted on our Perfect Potluck site.
On the perfect potluck website, use Meal Coordinator: Family House and Password: 1970 to find us.
We look forward to the day when we will welcome groups back in the Family House kitchen to prepare meals!
We will be sure to update this webpage and our social media pages as protocols change.