Guest Column: The Salt and Pepper Luncheon

For 32 years, the Inter-Faith Hunger Project has been a critical source of food to help address food insecurity issues for people who are either over 55 or on disability. Participants in the program must have a home where they can store their food, cook it and have some form of income, albeit at or below poverty levels. They desperately need our help. 

While these are pertinent facts, this story is about how the Salt and Pepper Luncheon came to be and why it is important to so many people. Some 21 years ago, a Catholic Charities Hunger Project volunteer driver was delivering a box of food to a homebound elderly woman. The widow had no food in her cupboards, her refrigerator and freezer were equally devoid of any sustenance, yet she was cooking.  When asked what she was making, she replied, “Salt and Pepper Soup. You boil water, then add salt and pepper to taste.”

This harsh reality served as a call to action, not only for that volunteer but for Catholic Charities as a whole, to work harder and to increase our capacity to serve. Soon thereafter, the first Salt and Pepper Luncheon was planned. 

Today we are serving over 800 unduplicated clients, 60 of which are homebound, and expect to serve over 1,000 by summer. The food we provide to them through our grocery store is either purchased from the High Plains Food Bank, other grocers, or donated to us through the Bags of Hope Program. They can choose to “shop” daily, on Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday, weekly or sometimes monthly, for free food with credit allotted based on their monthly income and expense. On average, the monthly retail value of what they receive is around $120 to $140. As you can imagine, as the needs go up, so does the cost of keeping our shelves full, so they have access to either food they will eat or food their doctors recommend for them. This reduces the amount of food waste seen in other programs.  We need your help to feed the hungry!

On Thursday, March 22, we will host our 19 ^th Annual Salt and Pepper Luncheon at St. Mary’s Cathedral in the Monsignor Francis A. Smyer Activity Center. We are honored to have State Representative Four Price as our speaker. All of the funds raised will support the Hunger Project. Tickets are $25.00 each for the luncheon, and there are five levels of sponsorship for those wishing to purchase tables for eight. A Table Sponsor is $250 each, a Bronze Sponsor table is $1000 each, a Silver Sponsor table is $2,500 each, a Gold Sponsor table is $5,000 and a Platinum Sponsor table is $10,000 each. For additional information or to purchase a table, contact Tammy Martin at 376-4571 or go to the agency’s website, www.cctxp.org.

Because of the generous involvement of our community, giving of your time, talent and treasure, we are privileged to extend love and charity to those in need. Thank you for your support.

Jeff Gulde is Executive Director of Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle, based in Amarillo.