Our changing service

Since March, Savory Sunday has rapidly and effectively shifted our serving methods, practices and systems. In conversations at the beginning of the pandemic with the Capitol Police it became clear we would not be able to continue serving out of the basement of the Capitol as we normally do. We were able to continue cooking out the Madison Senior Center for a few fraught weeks and handing out food in front of the Capitol to ensure minimal contact and gathering. This again was stopped as the Madison Senior Center shut down outside groups from using their space.

We were suddenly faced with a major challenge, no where to cook, no where to serve. Instead of stopping our operations completely we started calling around to day centers and other groups servicing folks experiencing homelessness to see if we could support their efforts. This led to our connection with the Beacon on East Washington and a commitment to providing at least some food on Sundays.

The final piece we needed to figure out was the food. As you all know we typically serve frozen meat from our annual Grillin’ 4 Peace event in conjunction with fresh fruits, vegetables and grains. One of our former volunteer groups, a local Girl Scout troop, expressed interest in continuing to volunteer by providing us with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches which we gladly accepted. Donated baked goods from neighbors and community members often make the menu as well. When we can we grab frozen meat and donated food from Community Action Coalition, where we store the G4P meat, to create a delicious, varied and hot meal.

Looking back at these last 8 months, somehow we have not missed a Sunday. We are a tight knit group of volunteers that truly believes in serving our Madison community. We rely on our community partners, we depend on volunteer support. We are bringing this same energy and creativity to Grillin’ 4 Peace. We still need food to serve, we still need funds to supply our modified service, and who knows, maybe 2021 will resemble the Savoy Sunday of old and if that is the case then we need to be prepared!