Five years ago, on November 4^th, volunteers gathered to make HIP’s first senior meal. The menu was salmon cakes with yogurt dill sauce, a roll, roasted potatoes, roasted vegetables, and peach crisp. I should admit, this meal predates me. I didn’t start working on our Senior Community Meal until months later, so I missed all the first-time nerves and all (or some of) the trial-by-error. At the time, this program was such a sea change for HIP; an ambitious undertaking for a then staff of two. It was the first time we were regularly preparing hot meals and the first time our focus was on seniors. And yet, over time, what was new has become an integral part of the fabric of what we do.

We HIPsters have been in a reflective mood recently because we just celebrated our 10-year anniversary as an organization. Amidst the day-to-day, slow changes get lost. But when we compare then to now, we can see how much change and growth there is to celebrate.  While we still serve favorites like lasagna and meatloaf, we’ve expanded our repertoire to include so much more. On Wednesday December 26^th we’ll celebrate Kwanzaa for the first time by serving a southern-leaning comfort food menu: chicken & sausage jambalaya, apple cider greens, savory corn pudding, curried sweet potato puree, and apple ambrosia. This past month we also tried our hand at matzo ball soup and made chow mein for the first time. The learning curve is never really over, and thank goodness for that!

Til we cook again,
Darcy
Meal Program Manager