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Editorial
We envision ourselves as “a restaurant without a cash register,” where folks can come to enjoy nutritious meals in a comfortable and dignified atmosphere, thereby avoiding the stigmas that are commonly associated with traditional “soup kitchen” models. Our dining room is open to all regardless of present need or income, hence our name, “The Community Table.”
–vision statement of The Community Table Most of us will gather with family and friends next week on Thanksgiving to enjoy a meal and interactions with those most dear to us. Imagine participating in such a gathering on a weekly basis in which you’re the recipient of nourishment not only for your body but your soul as well.
Such gatherings do occur regularly at The Community Table, the Rockbridge area’s restaurant without a cash register, where you can dine with not only those you hold dear but with folks you’ve never met. There are three opportunities weekly to take part in these gatherings – Mondays from 6 to 7 p.m. and Wednesdays from noon to 1 p.m. at the Rockbridge Area Relief Association’s Piovano Building Community Room in Lexington and Fridays from 10 a.m. to noon at the Fairfield Presbyterian Church.
“Our mission is simple,” goes a statement on The Community Table’s website (www. communitytablerockbridge.org). “We provide healthy, delicious meals to our neighbors at risk for hunger in a dignified, welcoming, and inclusive, restaurant-style experience. We address food insecurity and strengthen the community through the timeless activity of sharing meals together. Modeled after The Community Table of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, TCT Rockbridge serves as a connecting point between those in Lexington, Buena Vista and Rockbridge County of Virginia, at risk for hunger and others who are able and willing to assist them.”
Russell Tompkins, who founded The Community Table, recalled this week that the formation of the entity when it was granted 501(3)(C) nonprofit status by the IRS in April of 2011 “was the culmination of many meetings and investigations into the needs of those of us who live in Buena Vista and Lexington and Rockbridge County. It was clear that we could not address all the challenges so we decided to direct our efforts towards the topic of food insecurity.”
Students at Washington and Lee University, he said, “had done an excellent job of creating a white paper describing food insecurity in our area of Rockbridge. We used that white paper to approach all the churches in the area and Lexington City Council to see if we could utilize the downstairs community room at the Piovano building.” The Rev. David Cox, then a member of City Council, “was very supportive of our efforts and he spearheaded the discussions at the City Council level that would eventually allow us to utilize the commercial kitchen and the space in that building.”
Tompkins subsequently “assembled a very competent board of directors which served as an operating board and not simply as a governing board. It was understood that everyone would have to roll up their sleeves. I went about securing stainless steel serving tables and serving carts and receiving donated silverware from Pizza Hut. We were fortunate enough to find David Faulds to head up our meal design and supervise food preparation. We then had a succession of presidents who were most capable of organizing and leading the effort. When Covid hit, the new administration had to develop strategies to still honor the mandate of serving our neighbors with healthy and nutritious meals in a very different type of delivery system which would allow for drive-thru meals and minimizing the gathering and [sociability] of our mandate.
“Now that we are on the other side of Covid we are returning to the social aspect by encouraging lunches on Wednesdays and dinners on Monday nights and being seated with folks who you may or may not know. Thousands of meals have now been served to those who have experienced either physical hunger or emotional hunger through loneliness.
“Many thanks to those who sponsored our meals and the volunteers who have worked so hard. [W&L] has been such a great support to our mission as well as the United Way and many of the local businesses have been so giving. The Community Table is always looking for additional volunteers to help with food preparation and sourcing as well as serving and cleanup.”
We applaud the efforts of Tompkins and all the many others who have helped fulfill the vision for The Community Table and have therefore brought comfort and nourishment to so many people in our midst for the past 14 years. We encourage anyone who is so inclined to become a volunteer for this wonderful organization.
It is our hope that this very worthwhile mission continues to be a vital part of our community for many years to come.
