For 10 years, Common Table has served the Manhattan community with free meals seven nights a week. 

“For most of those 10 years, it’s just been a cooperation between churches in Manhattan where different churches made commitments to ensure that there is a meal every night,” Jeff Sackrider, vice chair of Common Table, said. 

After a 2014 report to the USD 383 Board of Education showed 250 students self-reporting as homeless, 11 area churches came together to offer meals and address this community concern. The nonprofit originally operated out of several of the churches, but Common Table moved to a single location at 901 Poyntz Ave. this January. 

Sackrider said Common Table’s services are especially relevant now, considering recent funding cuts to food assistance programs. 

“We have definitely seen an increase in the number of neighbors that are showing up to get a meal every night,” he said. “There is no denying that with the SNAP benefits going away, there is a direct line between that and our neighbors that already deal with student security, not knowing where their next meal is gonna come from.”

Common Table serves meals at 6 p.m. each night in the cafeteria at Lincoln Education Center, and Sackrider said anyone is welcome; no questions asked. 

“To its base, every single member of the community is welcome. We don’t ask questions; if you show up, we are going to feed you. That is the sole purpose.”

Sackrider urges anyone to consider volunteering for Common Table and said the experience is “extremely rewarding.” 

“We need more people to volunteer,” he said. “With SNAP benefits going away or coming back, we are going to need more [volunteers] if we continue to serve hundreds of people a night.” 

Volunteers serve each night from 5:15-7:30 p.m., helping with tasks such as cooking, cleaning and serving. 

To volunteer with Common Table, sign up at mhkcommontable.org/volunteer-with-us.