Roughly 250 people gathered on Main Street in Riverhead Friday night, standing in solidarity with the tens of thousands seeking asylum into the United States at the country’s southern border — and in protest of the inhumane treatment occurring at ICE detention centers. READ
Organizations across the North Fork and Riverhead dedicated to helping the poorest and neediest may lose federal funding due to cuts proposed in the 2018 federal budget “blueprint” submitted by President Donald Trump.
The First Congregational Church of Riverhead was awarded approximately $71,000 to aid in the ongoing restoration of the historic building through a grant by the Robert David Lion Gardiner Foundation. READ
The following is the News-Review’s annual listing of Christmas services and special events hosted by local churches.
First Congregational Church of Riverhead on East Main Street is the recipient of a Christmas miracle.
The grand white church will open its doors once again on Thursday, just in time for a Christmas Eve service. READ
Concerned that two miles was too far of a commute for members without a horse, Fanning Church split in 1834, creating the First Congregational Church in Riverhead. READ
TIM GANNON PHOTO | Bennett Brokaw (left), co-president of Bread and More, along with fellow volunteers Gerry Hamill (center) and Genny Yeoman, cook dinner at Riverhead Congregational Church one night last month.
Three nights a week, at 5:30 p.m., Bread and More opens its doors for an hour to serve hot dinners to anyone who needs them. By 4:30 p.m. on those nights, people start lining up outside First Congregational Church of Riverhead, where the meals are served.
“We feed the hungry, no questions asked,” said Bennett Brokaw, one of three co-presidents at Bread and More, which is affiliated with the Interfaith Nutrition Network. “We don’t care who, what or where they come from. As long as they’re orderly, they get a hot meal.”
Bread and More serves on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at the downtown Riverhead church. It started in 1990, when it served meals just once a week.
“We’ve never had a fundraiser in 22 years,” Mr. Brokaw said. “Now, what’s happening is that there are two dynamics going on. The amount of guests we serve is up about 50 to 60 percent in the last two years and our donations and funding are down by almost the same percent, 50 percent.”
And as a result, Bread and More will be having its first-ever fundraiser this Saturday.
“Money is tight, and we’re finding ourselves in trying times,” Mr. Brokaw said.
EDITORIAL: Trying times for many — especially the hungry
The Harvest Fundraiser Dinner, as its being called, will be held at First Congregational Church on Saturday, Oct. 20, where a three-course pork roast dinner will be served in two seatings, one at 5 p.m. and another at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $30 per person and can be purchased at Barth’s Pharmacy, 32 East Main St. in Riverhead, or Cecily’s Love Lane Gallery in Mattituck. People also can also call Phyllis Kenny at 516-297-7810 for tickets. Tables can be reserved for parties of eight or more.
The fundraiser will be held in the same place as the “soup kitchen,” as it’s called, although it serves more than soup, and the menu will be similar to the menu served by Bread and More three nights a week.
“You’ll definitely get the feel of it,” Mr. Brokaw said, though the fundraiser doesn’t have any specific theme.
A typical dinner at Bread and More might be something like homemade meatloaf with mashed potatoes and vegetables, he said. All the food is fresh cooked and made from scratch.
“When we started 22 years ago, we basically did 25 to 30 meals a week,” said Mr. Brokaw. “Now, we are serving 15,000 meals per year. All served by local volunteers.”
Much of the food is donated. King Kullen donates bakery goods and produce, Beach Bakery in Westhampton donates bread, dinner rolls and desserts and local farms also donate produce, Mr. Brokaw said. The meat is purchased fresh, usually by the chef on duty that night, he said.
The group uses about 40 volunteers over the three nights, he said. It’s other co-presidents are Judy Barth and Deedee Newcomb.
“Some of the people we serve are homeless, but some of them are just people who can’t make ends meet,” Mr. Brokaw said. “We have people from all walks of life here. You’d be surprised. We never thought that we would be having hard times, but I guess it affects everyone, including people who donate money.”
Mr. Brokaw said they’ve been monitoring the numbers for the past 18 months and the pattern was “expenses going up and donations and funding going down.”
That’s when they decided to have the fundraiser.
Volunteers usually arrive about two and half hours before the church doors open and the last of the work is done by about 6:45 p.m., said longtime volunteer Artie Johnson.
Like those in need, the volunteers, some of whom have been doing it for more than 12 years, also come from all walks of life.
Bob Adamo said his neighbors at Saddle Lakes got him involved.
“I think it’s good for the people who come here for sustenance, and I know it’s good for the people who work here,” Mr. Adamo said. “It’s nice to feel like you’re doing something worthwhile.”
Genny Yeomans said she came here from West Hemsptead and “always wanted to work in a soup kitchen.” She’s now been doing it 12 years.
“To help people is gratifying,” she said. “It’s a wonderful thing to give back.”
Bronna Johnson, who’s been volunteering at Bread and More since 2000, said there have been times when people who served at the soup kitchen as a community service condition from the courts liked it so much they ended up volunteering after their service was done.
“We’ve had that happen a few times,” she said.
Volunteers and staff at dozens of worthy charities and other nonprofit groups perform good works here and across the region daily. And they depend on us — and in some cases the government — to keep going.
Every weekend, it seems, there’s a festival or dinner or other such event to help support these groups, worthy causes such as keeping the arts alive, caring for homeless animals or helping an individual felled by a terrible illness or accident.
There’s no true hierarchy of importance for these causes, which all deserve and demand our attention, but it’s hard to think of a more worthy cause than feeding those among us going hungry.
That’s why it was so startling to learn this week that Bread and More, a soup kitchen operating three days a week out of Riverhead’s First Congregational Church, has not once held a fundraising event to help support its mission.
Bread and More has operated for years solely on the generosity of a few donors and a few local eateries.
Now, after two decades, they’re asking for help from the general public.
Why now?
“There are two dynamics going on,” Bread and More co-president Bennett Brokaw explained to the News-Review. “The amount of guests we serve is up about 50 to 60 percent in the last two years and our donations and funding are down by almost the same percent, 50 percent.
“Money is tight,” he added. “And we’re finding ourselves in trying times.”
What’s that old saying? Give until it hurts. The folks at Bread and More already have. They’re hurting, and while no one should be told how to spend his or her money, we can ask that we all keep Riverhead’s hungry in mind as we head into the holidays.
Bread and More’s first-ever fundraising event, The Harvest Fundraiser Dinner, will be held at the East Main Street church this Saturday, Oct. 20. A three-course pork roast dinner will be served in two seatings, one at 5 p.m. and another at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets are $30 per person and can be purchased at Barth’s Pharmacy, 32 East Main St. in Riverhead, or Cecily’s Love Lane Gallery in Mattituck. People also can also call Phyllis Kenny at 516-297-7810 for tickets. Tables can be reserved for parties of eight or more.