Serving the Community Beyond the Table
- Family Table Collaborative
- Jul 30
- 5 min read
On a sweltering Thursday afternoon, Chris Lavenets was making her way from Eastham toward Hyannis with an important mission: ensuring Family Table Collaborative’s 4:30 p.m. food distribution at the Hyannis Youth and Community Center on Bassett Lane went smoothly.
The Collaborative’s refrigerated van was fully packed. If everything went according to plan, nearly 370 meals would be distributed to people who were already beginning to line up.
When asked whether the summer heat and Cape traffic made the trip difficult, Lavenets had a simple response:
“People need food. Doesn’t matter the temperature, traffic, or weather. We’ll be there.”
Bringing Meals Directly to the Community
Lavenets volunteers to quarterback the distribution team and takes a hands-on role throughout the entire process. She drives the truck, manages sign-up sheets, and greets many of the people arriving by their first names.
The refrigerated van visits Hyannis every other week, alternating Thursdays with distributions at the Elks Lodge parking lot off Route 6 in Eastham.
The prepared meals distributed at these locations are made at Family Table Collaborative’s commercial kitchen in South Yarmouth.
The Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance also contributes dozens of containers of chowders and stews each week through its “Small Boats, Big Taste” program, adding even more locally sourced options to the meals available to community members.
From COVID Response to an Ongoing Mission
According to Family Table Collaborative operations manager Deke Knight, the organization’s food distribution efforts began as a rapid response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
One of the most important partnerships to emerge was with Whole Foods Market in Hyannis.
Seven days a week, Family Table picks up approximately 20 to 40 “banana boxes” from Whole Foods, filled primarily with produce.
Whole Foods maintains extremely high standards for what reaches its shelves. As a result, food removed from sale may have a blemish or other minor imperfection while remaining perfectly appealing and edible. Without organizations like Family Table Collaborative, some of that food could otherwise be composted into biofuel or end up in a landfill.
Instead, FTC's culinary team transforms those ingredients, along with other donations, into freshly prepared meals.
The menu can include dishes such as sweet potato gnocchi, broccoli Alfredo, beef stir fry, and stuffed peppers. Bananas, desserts, and other foods also regularly become part of the distributions.
Whole Foods helped FTC take its work on the road by donating the refrigerated food truck used for distributions.
Knight describes it as:
“a $90,000 piece of equipment,”
Hundreds of Meals Every Week
Between its community distributions and partnerships with organizations such as local Councils on Aging, Family Table Collaborative distributes as many as 700 meals per week, while also serving people who come to its South Yarmouth location.
During last winter’s blizzard, that number climbed into the thousands as the organization responded to the emergency.
Thanksgiving demonstrated the scale of the need as well. Last Thanksgiving, Family Table Collaborative distributed an incredible 2,000 turkey dinners, an enormous undertaking that also revealed how much food insecurity can remain unseen within the community.
What's on the Menu Depends on What's Available
At a recent Hyannis distribution, chicken happened to be the primary donated protein.
That meant people arriving that week could choose among meals including pepper ranch chicken, chicken fajita, and lemon chicken. Bread from Pain d’Avignon was an additional treat.
People place their orders a day before the distribution, allowing Lavenets and the team to organize the meals. At the site, she works from a clipboard, checking off names and keeping track of who is receiving which meals.
For many residents, picking up food is not only about themselves.
Mary Jo Felice, who lives in elderly housing in Hyannis, visits the distribution every two weeks. She picks up meals for herself as well as six or seven neighbors who have difficulty getting out.
“People are so grateful,” she said. “And everyone knows: When you help someone out, you feel good too.”
As the team prepared her order, one volunteer called out:
“Mary Jo, do you want chowder?”
Felice quickly responded:
“Oh yes, but just the white!”
Her neighbors prefer traditional haddock and clam chowders over the tomato-based skate stew also available.
Saying Yes to Food Donations
FTC welcomes donations from sources both large and small.
As Knight explains:
“Our mantra is to say yes to donations,”
That philosophy can mean accepting tomatoes from someone's home garden or receiving a much larger contribution from a commercial wholesaler. Whether the donation is large or small, FTC makes every effort to find a way to use it.
But another principle is equally visible at every distribution.
Everyone who arrives is treated as a neighbor. There is no judgment or condescension attached to receiving food.
The goal is simply to make nutritious meals accessible to people who need them.
Removing Barriers to Food Access
The atmosphere is much the same at the Eastham Elks Lodge parking lot, where distributions take place every other week.
Although Eastham typically has fewer sign-ups than Hyannis, the need remains significant. A recent distribution had approximately 135 people signed up.
People are also encouraged to collect meals for neighbors, friends, and others who may not be able to make the trip themselves.
Knight summarizes FTC's approach simply:
“Our role is to offer food, not create barriers to access,”
Maureen Salam understands the importance of that accessibility.
Every two weeks, she gets into her car and drives from Dennisport to the distribution. She does not make the trip only for herself. Salam also picks up food for two or three friends in her neighborhood.
On one particular visit, Moroccan meatballs and Lebanese eggplant were among the meals waiting to be distributed.
Salam high-fived volunteer Karen Szvoren in thanks before beginning the drive back home.
Could the FTC Model Work Elsewhere?
Family Table Collaborative's approach raises an important question: Could this model be replicated in other communities as a way to address food insecurity and food waste?
Knight believes it could.
However, a significant part of FTC's success comes from its extraordinary network of volunteers. Cape Cod's highly engaged retirement community, he says, is:
“hard to beat.”
FTC also benefits from the leadership of co-founder Jeni Wheeler, whom Knight describes as an effective ambassador for the organization and its mission.
Wheeler has helped develop a broader vision for making FTC financially sustainable rather than relying exclusively on charitable funding.
An important part of that strategy is private catering, which helps offset close to 50 percent of the expenses associated with providing free food distributions.
This approach allows catering revenue and community support to work together, helping FTC continue providing meals to neighbors throughout Cape Cod.
Addressing the Hidden Scourge of Food Insecurity
Family Table Collaborative's model is working.
Surplus ingredients are being rescued. Volunteers are giving their time. Hundreds of meals are reaching residents every week. Neighbors are picking up food for neighbors. Private catering is helping support the cost of free community meals.
But ultimately, the best outcome would be a world in which organizations like FTC were no longer needed for this purpose.
Because behind every parking lot distribution, every refrigerated truck filled with meals, and every person making the trip to pick up food is a larger challenge that often remains hidden:
Food insecurity.
Until that need disappears, Family Table Collaborative will continue showing up, regardless of the temperature, the traffic, or the weather.
As Lavenets said:
“People need food. Doesn’t matter the temperature, traffic, or weather. We’ll be there.”
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