This parishioner-funded Ministry occurs on the 1st and 4th Sundays of every month in the Parish Hall/Magdalen Hall. The doors open at 1:30 pm, and we serve our guests at 2:30 p.m. Guests are welcome to arrive then for coffee, juice, snacks, and a chance to watch sports or visit with friends.
Lisa the cook with her delicious cornbread and two new delightful helpers, Matt and Carolyn
Casual volunteers are crucial to the success of our 1st and 4th Sunday meals. No experience is required. Your help, even if it’s only for an hour, contributes to the smooth running of this operation. Come and meet other folks and serve a warm meal to our brothers and sisters in need. (Any child under 12 must be accompanied by an adult.)
Donations of desserts are especially appreciated by our guests and can be brought downstairs (on a 1st or 4th Sunday) before 1:30 pm.
The times of greatest need for drop-in volunteers are:
- set-up/cook from noon to 1:00 pm
- serve from 2:15 pm
- clean up from 3:30 pm. We always need help cleaning up.
We now have five scheduled positions per dinner: Cook, Sous-chef, Supervisor, Floater, and Main Server(s). They involve different time commitments, but most range from 3 to 4.5 hours, between the hours of 11:30 am and 4:30 pm. If you are interested in any of these critical jobs, we suggest that you start as a casual volunteer, coming at different times to see how the dinner works. Please email us at SundayDinners@marymagdalen.org.
A bit of history:
This program began in the mid-1980s as sandwiches to-go prepared under the direction of Sr. Ann Ronin, O.P. In 1989, at the suggestion of then-pastor Conrad Antonsen, O.P., Peter Hurd introduced a sit-down dinner on the 4th Sunday of the month. Sometime later, Trish Maniatis instituted a similar dinner on the 1st Sunday of every month. After many years of supervising these operations, Peter and Trish moved on from this ministry, but are still remembered, as well as other parishioners seminal to its continuing success: Patty Darragh, Chris Durieux, Ann Nelson, and deceased members Earl Jacobs, Rex Ehling, Larry Mannion, and Jerry O’Brien
For the past fourteen years, the husband-and-wife team of George Baranowski and Mary Jo Senica supervised the operation and its volunteer staff. Ann Fitzgerald and Wendy McWilliams oversaw the ordering of food and the bread pick-up from Semifreddi’s Bakery. Longtime volunteer Florence Wahl distributed the leftover food, among her many other contributions. In January 2024, a new “core team” of six longtime Sunday Dinner volunteers began to manage the Dinners under the leadership of James Pawlak, with assistance from colleagues Rea Galang, Rita Kovas, Kathryn Snowden, Laura Morland, and Christopher Rhodes.
Last, but certainly not least, we are grateful to the parishioners of St. Mary Magdalen Parish for their ongoing financial and volunteer support of this Ministry. These meals could not take place without their unwavering commitment. Thank you!
Lead Volunteers posed for the Parish Directory at the end of their Annual Meeting in October 2017
Top row: Dennis Smith (decd). Maureen Wesolowski.
Second row: Treasurer Peter Conn, Shawna & Matthew Greenway, 2010-2024 Sunday Dinner Coordinators George Baranowski and Mary Jo Senica.
Third row: Katie Strausser, Elizabeth Sklut, Rea Galang, Sandra Backovich.
Fourth row: Katie Calvert, Laura Morland
Bottom row: Food Ordering Coordinator Ann Fitzgerald, Florence Wahl, Sally Smith, Rita Kovas.
