Not Bread Alone expands offerings

By Scott Merzbach
Staff Writer

Published on November 23, 2007

With the number of chronically homeless people reportedly rising in town, a community meal program is expanding its offerings to include an additional dinner and outreach social service on Wednesdays.

The Not Bread Alone Soup Kitchen recently began filling a void in meal service by beginning to have the Wednesday meal. It will serve a hot dinner from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. A light snack will be available at 3 p.m.

The decision to grow comes as the meal program, at the First Congregational Church at 165 Main St., has seen a 15 percent increase in the number of guests in the last two months.

Hwei-Ling Greeney, the coordinator of Not Bread Alone, said that the advisory board had discussed the idea for more than three years as a means of bridging a gap in service to the needy.

"I believe it's a more comprehensive way of caring for the poor and homeless, by using the tools they have," Greeney said.

In addition to the new meal, which supplements its existing weekend program, a case manager will periodically be on site to assist with signing people up for Massachusetts health care and to answer health-related questions. In partnership with Tri-City Homeless Services and ServiceNet, community outreach workers will be on site each Wednesday from 3 to 6 p.m. to aid people with food stamp applications, fuel and housing assistance and other programs

Amherst's community services director, Roy Rosenblatt, said in an email that the expanded work of Not Bread Alone is important to the community.

"People in need will deeply appreciate this outreach and the care it represents," Rosenblatt said. "Nobody in this wealthy country should be hungry. Not Bread Alone is doing its part."

Hughia Magnus, a member of Not Bread Alone's advisory board, said the additional day will help to meet the increasing demands and gives less fortunate people an opportunity to remain part of, rather than being isolated from, the community. "It really is a good place for people to be," Magnus said.

An October survey of people who are guests at Not Bread Alone elicited 69 responses from guests, with 86 percent of respondents wishing for a meal Wednesdays, the only weekday in which a meal is not served at the Amherst Survival Center. Other high-ranking needs are assistance in health and dental care and help with housing.

Greeney said the expansion means needing to get more donors and volunteers and lining up social services at Not Bread Alone, which has existed for 25 years to provide food and companionship for homeless people on weekends. In 2006, it offered 4,500 meals and distributed thousands of pounds of free groceries and baked goods.

Greeney expects more outreach to the community in an effort to cover the $7,000 to $8,000 in additional costs of the Wednesday meal.