Every Friday throughout the year, St. Thomas Ameina’s Food of Life Pantry distributes food and offers caseworker support at Mission Episcopal Santiago Apostol (La Mesa) in Dover Plains. The program benefits approximately 120 of our immigrant neighbors facing food insecurities. Stonewood Farm has partnered with St. Thomas to create a new food recovery program we call Full Heart Kitchen or Cocina de Corazón Lleno in Spanish.
Every other Friday, Chef Kristen takes the otherwise unused and discarded food from St. Thomas’ weekly distributions and combines it with our farm-fresh produce to create healthy prepared hot meal, to include in distribution. Guests at La Mesa, many of whom don’t have the ability to prepare a wholesome meal, can now enjoy nutritious and delicious eat-in or take-out fare.
With the generous amount of unused food being given to us by St. Thomas, combined with the abundance of the farm, we have been able to increase our production of prepared foods and are now delivering them, along with our fresh produce, to the First Harvest Food Pantry and our Dover Senior’s Fresh Produce Program. This has been such a rewarding experience and such a win for our food insecure community.
