Program Background
The mission of the program is to provide a free sit-down community meal and to provide a safe and friendly environment where guests can come for a nutritious restaurant quality meal and engage in socialization to help reduce social isolation. Meals are offered twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. Doors open at 4:15pm and meals are served at 4:45pm at Most Holy Trinity Church Hall, 271 Main Street in Saco. While donations are always welcome, no fee is charged for the dinner.
Providing meals to the community began in 1989 with the help of the Holy Cross Fathers and a small group of Most Holy Trinity parishioners. Once the Holy Cross Fathers left the area, the program continued with the help of local organizations and volunteers. In 2011, the Saco Meals Program became a registered non-profit charitable organization and received its 501c3 tax-exempt designation.
Today, we operate as an independent non-profit with the support of a volunteer-only group of local community members. The program operates from the Most Holy Trinity Church Hall in Good Shepherd Parish. The parish generously provides the hall and kitchen for the meals.
Our guests include individuals, families, children, seniors, veterans, the disabled, and the unhoused. All are welcome who walk through the door. There is no registration or special requirements to participate as a guest.
We typically feed between 90-100 guests at each meal. The majority of our clients are residents of Saco, Biddeford, and Old Orchard Beach but residents of all towns are welcome to join.
Some Program Features
At the conclusion of the meal, all guests are invited to visit “The Giving Table” which consists of fruit, vegetables, meats, dairy, and bakery goods that are donated by Shaw’s of Saco and during the summer months we receive fresh produce donations from Spiller Farm. The Giving Table also includes canned goods (vegetables, fruits, & soups) and dried goods (cereals, beans, snacks, & nuts). All these products are received as part of the Good Shepherd Food Bank/Feeding America Program. Each guest has an opportunity to select items to take home and use to provide additional meals during the week.
Volunteers and Donations
Our program develops a monthly meal menu based on the ingredients we can obtain at a reduced cost through Good Shepherd Food Bank and the balance through purchases made utilizing the financial donations of our meal sponsors. A copy of the monthly menu is published and available online. We are so thankful for all the meal sponsors and donations!
All who work at the program are unpaid volunteers who share their time and talents setting up the hall each Monday and Thursday, prepping and cooking, serving the food, and cleaning up after the meal is completed. We also have volunteers that pick up the food from various locations for the giving table as well as our basic inventory staples. We currently have a wonderful volunteer team of over 75 individuals and are always looking for new volunteers to help support the program.
We maintain a close relationship with the Saco Food Pantry and Age Friendly Saco and share the same mission to help with food insecurity and social isolation in our community. The Saco Community Meals Program is listed at Maine 2-1-1 as an emergency source of food.
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