St Ben's
St Ben’s meal program
Volunteer opportunities for parishioners of St Gregs
Many caring people have volunteered in various ways over the years here at St. Greg’s for the St. Ben’s Meal Program. St. Ben’s is in the the city of Milwaukee on 9th and State, in an area where many poor families and homeless people live. Forty-four years ago the Capuchin Order saw a tremendous need to help the hungry poor.
They started the meal program at St. Benedict the Moor Parish. Since that early beginning, a hot meal has been served six days a week, fifty weeks out of the year. An average of 400 meals are served every day. Our parish was asked if we would help. So it has been for about 44 years our parish has prepared and served a hot meal on the 4th Wednesday of every month with an average of approximately 5400 meals served per year.
The volunteer group here at St. Greg’s come together to prepare the food in the Tenpenny Hall kitchen on the parish premises. The food is then transported to St. Ben’s in vans. The meal we serve consists of ground beef steak, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, mixed vegetables, bread and bakery items for dessert.
The bakery is donated by the parishioners-and much of it is homemade! Serving the meal starts at 5pm (and we serve until 6:30 or until all who come are fed). At this time it costs about $600 a month or $7200 a year in money donated by our parishioners for operations on our parish end. If you want to be involved through monetary donations or helping to feed, you are invited to join us!