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Dining Hall reopens with meatloaf Monday
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
It was “Meatloaf Monday” again at the St. Vincent de Paul Society dining hall after workers reopened the Front Street eatery.
Clients, some homeless and some not, came in from 10:30 a.m. until noon to get their hot meal of meatloaf, potatoes, green beans and desserts of all kinds.
In the kitchen were volunteers and a new kitchen manager, Wayne Murray.
“It’s my passion,” Murray said. “I thank the society for giving me the opportunity to feed the hungry. After today, seeing all the people getting food is what it is all about.”
Murray, former executive director of Open Arms Community Outreach of Youngstown, was hired after the resignation of Ralph “Skip” Barone on Nov. 27 as kitchen manager for the dining hall.
“I had volunteers come in, and we jumped right in,” Murray said.
The kitchen will run as usual and “keep people fed,” Murray said.
“I am totally excited,” he said. “It was like a dream come true to be able to do this.”
The dining hall, which serves anywhere from 200 to 250 for lunch on weekdays, was closed last week after volunteers followed Barone in a walkout. While it remained closed, many of those volunteers at the society came forward with Barone to provide lunches to those in need in a parking lot across Front Street.
A donor read a Vindicator article and became distraught over the needy people missing meals. The donor provided funds to replace dining-hall meals last Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. In fact, Barone and the former volunteers of the society were out Monday serving brown-bag lunches even while the hall was open and filled.
A memo inside the St. Vincent de Paul Society dining hall explains the hall is an “on premises” dining facility. Takeout meals are prohibited with zero exceptions. On days the dining hall is able to give out take-home lunches, they are limited to one per person. The policies are at the request of the St. Vincent de Paul Society board of directors, said Brian Antal, society president.
Barone and others will be back again to hand out lunches because they see there’s still a need for more help out there.
The clients “like this because they have something to snack on,” Barone said.
“It’s going very well,” Barone said of the effort. “We gave out 160 bagged lunches” Monday.
Looking across the street at the dining hall he managed for 13 years and served for 15 years, Barone was happy to see the doors back open.
“I think it continues to serve a need, and I hope it continues to do well,” Barone said.