Our November 28 MCJC-sponsored PADS dinner was very successful. The food was delicious, and the servers had a good time serving the meal and washing the dishes.

Yes, doing the dishes! It seems that will be the case going forward. In prior years, a man and wife team came in to do that work, but  unfortunately are no longer available, and no replacement volunteers have been found.

The PADS servers this year have been allowed to use paper products to serve the meal instead of china to reduce the amount of dish washing, but those of us that washed remarked, “There still seem to be a lot of items to wash!”

We fed twenty-seven PADS guests and five overnight PADS volunteers. We are serving many fewer PADS guests this year than last year, so we will recommend appropriately smaller quantities to those who bring food.

Our next PADS dinner is December 26. Thanks to all who worked on this past month’s dinner!  Please get in touch with Bruce Weiss, Social Action Chairperson (socialaction@mcjconline.org) if you would like to get involved with our next dinner.

The next MCJC-sponsored PADS dinner is this  Wednesday at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1320 Dean Street in Woodstock (across from the Woodstock Fire Station on Dean Street).

Thank you all so much for helping out with this important community service project!

Food providers for the meal are: Leslie Cook (soup),  Gene Lindow/Trio Grille (chicken entree), Briana and Elsie Salgado (mashed potatoes), Ellen Morton (green beans), Dara Turnball (rolls), Ilene Kaye (dessert), Kim Dooley Solomon (brownies), and Marian Weiss (chocolate chip cookies and some type of cake).

It is hard to know how many PADS guests we will have. The numbers have run low this year (roughly 25 people,) but with winter now in full force, we probably should plan for 50 PADS guests.

Servers for the meal are:  Dara and Brandon Turnball and their two children, Briana, Elsa and Jessie Salgado, Kim Dooley Solomon, Iza Celewicz, Brian Silver, and me. This is the largest number of servers we have ever had! Everyone gets a chance to help out, and we always have fun.

Although we don’t usually wash the dishes, we did for the last two dinners — so we’ll be prepared if that’s required!

The meal is served between 7:00 and 8:00 pm, so if you’re bringing food, please bring your items between 6:00 and 6:30 pm. Look forward to seeing you there!

Bruce Weiss
MCJC Social Action Chairperson

The next MCJC-sponsored PADS dinner is Wednesday, November 28 at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1320 Dean Street in Woodstock.

The menu for the November 28 dinner is soup,  chicken, mashed potatoes, green beans, salad, rolls, and dessert. Gene Lindow and Adam ( Head Chef at Trio Grille Restaurant) will provide chicken, Leslie Cook soup, and Marian Weiss desserts for the meal.

The MCJC Social Action Committee still needs food providers for mashed potatoes, green beans, salad and rolls. Food contributions for the meal need to be at Redeemer Lutheran Church between 6:15-6:30 pm. I will get a head count from the PADS Volunteer Meal Coordinator a week before the meal, but now that winter is here,  we can probably expect between 50 and 60 PADS guests to feed at the overnight shelter at Redeemer Lutheran Church.

We also need four to seven individuals to serve the meal. Food servers should be at Redeemer Lutheran Church by 6:30-6:45 pm, and we will serve the meal between 7:00 and 8:00 pm. Usually a PADS volunteer team separate from the meal providers comes to wash the dishes, although that didn’t happen in October, and the MCJC PADS dinner team had to complete that job.

Thanks for being a member of the MCJC PADS dinner team! MCJC is recognized throughout our community as a caring congregation, and MCJC providing a PADS dinner once a month is truly a “community Mitzvah.”

Thanks for your help,
Bruce Weiss
MCJC Social Action Chairperson

By Bruce Weiss

The October 24 MCJC-sponsored PADS dinner was a big success. Five PADS volunteers served 20 homeless PADS guests.

The number of PADS guests coming to the Woodstock Wednesday PADS dinners and sleep-over shelter is down compared to last year, but we’re early in the season. As the weather turns colder, I am pretty sure the number of PADS guests coming to the dinners and sleep-over shelter will increase to 50-60, as it did last year.

The food providers for last night’s MCJC-sponsored dinner were:  Gene Lindow’s Trio Grille Restaurant (meatloaf),  Briana & Elsie Salgado (mashed potatoes),  Ellen Morton (green beans with almonds),  Bruce Weiss (salad), Amy Yoslov-LLaneta (rolls)  Marian Weiss (chocolate brownies & lemon cake). To say the dinner was delicious would be the understatement of the year.  Several of the PADS guests commented how delicious the meal was. Two of the PADS guests even said the meat loaf was the best they have ever tasted!

The servers and dishwashers at last night’s MCJC-sponsored PADS dinners were: Amy-LLaneta,  Briana/Elsie/Jesse Salgado, and Bruce Weiss. There was tremendous camaraderie among the MCJC-sponsored PADS dinner team last night, and the team members had a lot of fun working together for a good cause.

MCJC has an amazing PADS dinner team consisting of 17 MCJC members (Gene Lindow, Amy-Yoslov Llaneta, Leslie Cook, Ellen Morton, Briana/Elsie/Jesse Salgado, Esther/Bob Kaplan, Kim Solomon Dooley, Iza Celewwicz, Brian Silver, Linda & Jerry Trachsler, Eva Hoffman, Rachel Bailenson, and Bruce/Marian Weiss.

The next MCJC-sponsored PADS dinner is Wednesday November 28 at Redeemer Lutheran Church, 1320 Dean Street, Woodstock, 6:00 pm-8:00 pm. Please email socialaction@mcjconline.org for more information or to participate.