ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Saturday morning, groups from the bi-state are teaming up to feed families in North St. Louis County.
People in need of a hot meal can show up to the Dellwood Recreation Center and browse food trucks to pick which meals they’d like.
It’s the second year this event has been held, but organizers tell 5 on Your Side they expect an even bigger turnout than 2023 because food insecurity is a growing issue in our area.
We met with Rob Proffitt, a Practice Area Leader of Risk Taking in Mission and Service with St. Andrew United Methodist Church. He tells us, The need continues to be there, and in a lot of ways it seems to increase every year. This area in North County where our church is on Lindbergh we consider this to be a food desert. There aren’t a whole lot of big chain grocery stores and obviously the prices at the big chain grocery stores have gone up.”
St. Andrew United Methodist Church and 'Soulcial Kitchen' are leading the effort for Saturday's food truck event. They’ll have around eight food trucks in the parking lot at 10266 W Florissant Ave. The food trucks will provide around 700 meals for the community.
If you show up, you’ll get two tickets to trade in for tasty food from whichever trucks you choose. The event is, no need to pre-register. It starts at 11 am.
But, you're advised to get there early. Organizers say, in 2023, recipients lined up as early as 9:30 a.m. to get the meals.
We stopped by St. Andrew United Methodist Church in Florissant to talk about some other chances for folks to get food ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday.
On Wednesday, Nov. 27, you can drive up out to the church parking lot on 3975 N Hwy 67, Florissant, MO 63034 and receive free hot turkey dinners. The church plans to give out 200 meals.
The event starts at 4:30, but get there early because it’s first come, first serve.
On Thanksgiving, the church is set to deliver over 500 more dinners to families and local seniors in need. This distribution is not open to the public.
Proffitt becomes emotional as he recalls the memorable deliveries he's made to local senior homes. He tells our reporter, "That’s the best part of my job. When I started 18 years ago, my son and my wife and I started delivering these meals and it’s really about building relationship. The conversations -- I could give you 2 hours worth of stories. That’s what keeps you going.”
When it’s all said and done, St. Andrew will serve around 1,600 meals to families in need by Thanksgiving Day.
It’s a nearly 30 year tradition for the church.