Shared Breakfast Volunteers and Supporters,
We hope that you had wonderful Thanksgiving!
We just passed the 1-year anniversary of the re-opening of Shared Breakfast on November 15th, 2020. During the past year, Shared Breakfast volunteers have cooked and served over 7,500 meals. And the number of meals served each Sunday now regularly exceeds 200. Thank you for your part in making this ministry possible!
Shared Breakfast now has two components: walk-up guests and meals delivered to three shelters in downtown Seattle. The number of walk-up guests each Sunday has averaged just above 80 during the 4th Quarter. We started allowing walk-up guests to sit inside Fellowship Hall to eat their breakfast in early July. The number of guests wanting to sit inside has been steadily increasing with the change to colder, wetter weather.
And we have continued our partnership with Compass Housing and the King County Metro Access Van. Each Sunday morning, the King County Metro Access Van arrives at First Church around 8:15am for pick-up of the trays of eggs, biscuits and sausages for delivery to three shelters operated by Compass Housing in downtown Seattle (Angeline’s Place, Otto’s Place and the Pioneer Square Men’s Program). We regularly prepare over 120 meals each Sunday for delivery to the shelters.
We will continue operating Shared Breakfast during Q1 2022 in the same manner: serving breakfast in take-out bags to walk-up guests while allowing up to 18 guests at a time to sit inside Fellowship Hall as well as preparing meals for the shelters operated by Compass Housing. We will continue to have 1 Security Shepherd stationed outside the church on Denny Way (whose primary responsibilities are to maintain appropriate social distancing between the guests, ensure that all guests put on their masks before receiving a take-out bag and doing COVID-19 health screenings for those guests who want to eat their breakfasts inside) and 1 Shepherd stationed inside Fellowship Hall. We will utilize 1 Manager, 5 Food and Beverage Distribution Volunteers; 1 Lead Cook and 3 Assistant Cooks along with 1 Dishwasher. All volunteers must be vaccinated against COVID-19 and wear masks during their time at Shared Breakfast.
If you would like to volunteer for Shared Breakfast, please send an email to:
Sharedbreakfast@firstchurchseattle.org
Thanks for your interest and support!
Sue Porter and Jim Schone
Co-chairs, Urban Outreach Committee
First United Methodist Church of Seattle