Uncle Food’s Diner will transition back to its traditional, once-a-week, “Tuesday Community Meal” this April. The change comes after two years of meal preparation and delivery of to-go bags packed with calorie-dense meals, desserts, and “extras” distributed to five locations in Ashland, four days a week.  We made the shift to respond to heightened needs and to avoid large gatherings during the pandemic.

Beginning Tuesday, April 5, Uncle Food’s Diner volunteers will prepare food at the Methodist church kitchen and serve the meal at either Pioneer Hall on Winburn Way or at the Gazebo section of Lithia Park (TBA).

During the past two years, amid catastrophic fires, COVID shutdowns, and a rising number of unhoused and hungry people in our community, much of the capacity of Peace House has been spent raising funds to support the extensive program. The budget included unavoidable expenses, including wages for additional staff, purchasing and maintaining a cargo van, and the unfortunate cost of disposable packaging.

Throughout the expanded project’s tenure, only one day was missed on September 8, 2020, when the Almeda Fire destroyed thousands of homes and interrupted the kitchen’s ability to function. Aside from that one day, the energetic team produced 100-130 meals per shift and delivered them to hungry people in Ashland every Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday, since March 2020.

This group, under the leadership of Maren Faye, showed up every weekend, through holidays, during heightened COVID risks, without missing a beat. Behind the bustling kitchen was the tireless work of Peace House staff, who secured funds to pay for the program through innovative grants, COVID emergency funds, public agency initiatives, and City of Ashland programs.

We are both pleased and surprised that we were able to carry out this alternative model for a full two years during the COVID shutdown. It was never  intended to be a permanent expansion, and nonprofit funding opportunities for such a crisis response project have changed.

Importantly, Ashland’s United Methodist Church continues to support the program through the use of their commercial kitchen for meal preparation on Tuesdays into the foreseeable future. We find it impossible to quantify the support from the United Methodist’s operational staff and faith leaders, who have embraced the full time food service program for the past 24 months.

How will the transition work? 

Change is never easy, and scaling down has meant making difficult decisions, including cutting three days of meal services including shelter support and eliminating several staff positions. The renewed weekly event will continue to be led by Maren Faye but with an all-volunteer team.

Beginning Tuesday, April 5, Uncle Food’s Diner volunteers will prepare food at the Methodist church, pack the food into the Peace House van, and host the dinner either at Pioneer Hall on Winburn Way or at the Gazebo in Lithia Park as a backup. We look forward to reducing our use of wasteful packaging and offering people a “sit down meal” where more than just food can be shared among participants.

Our intention is to renew our commitment to offering our traditional and dignified dinner, and renew relationships with community partners like health practitioners, counselors, and social service advocates who have historically offered services at the Tuesday meal.

Other groups we’ve partnered with to offer the “Free Meals, Seven Days a Week” program for the past two years will also transition to a single location. Jobs with Justice offers free dinners on Thursdays and Fridays, and the “Monday Meal group” makes their weekly offering, both at Lithia Park in Ashland. We encourage others in our community to help fill the gaps in providing food to those in need on Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, as well as signing up to prepare and deliver food to the two shelters operating in Ashland.

Peace House will continue to focus on food sufficiency as well as affordable housing in the Rogue Valley, as well as sustaining our growing program areas. Our peace and justice work includes promoting nonviolence through peace and equality initiatives, educating our community about International conflicts and the dangers of nuclear war, and showing solidarity with marginalized communities. We continue to provide hundreds of books to incarcerated people through our Rogue Liberation Library program, and enhance our sponsorship of the Truth To Power Club at Ashland High School.

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