FALL RIVER — For the past five years, the Veterans’ Kitchen has been serving up free lunches and companionship for locals who have served their country, along with their friends and families, first at the Corky Row Club and more recently at the Blessed Trinity Church.
Now the all-volunteer Veterans’ Kitchen, which started in 2019, is stepping into a new phase of its service to veterans with a new home in a large space at the Liberal Club on Star Street.
“It’s exciting, it’s very exciting,” said Dawn Trahan, director of the Veterans’ Kitchen and one of its founders.
“It’s the next chapter. It's like turning a page,” said veteran and active Veterans’ Kitchen volunteer Andy Goddu. “We don’t turn anyone away.”
“We’re not going to let anyone go hungry,” said volunteer Doreen Bain.
'They’re like my family':This Fall River nonprofit cooks lunch for veterans every week
How the Veterans' Kitchen and the Liberal Club work together
The Veterans' Kitchen prepares meals for 100 people every Wednesday.
Former Liberal Club president and organizer of the annual Liberal Club Holy Ghost Feast Kevin Palmer said the club facility is perfect for the Veterans’ Kitchen with plenty of parking and handicapped accessibility.
Palmer said the Holy Ghost Feast is also partnering with the Veterans’ Kitchen and is providing space for the volunteer organization to store its equipment in its pavilion.
“They’ve got their freezers over there and they will do their cooking here,” said Palmer. “The church did some electrical work and changed the locks so that they have access.”
David Cyr from the Liberal Club board said there have already been conversations about donating space at the facility so the Veterans’ Kitchen can hold fundraisers.
“They can just take the hall for the night and have some sort of party that will allow money to funnel into the Veterans’ Kitchen, so they have more capital, so they can have their own space somewhere in the city,” said Cyr.
Trahan and her volunteers have been working on the transfer from the church to the Liberal Club, and next Wednesday they will wrap up the move.
The Veterans’ Kitchen will have its grand re-opening at the Liberal Club on May 8.
While the goal is for the Veterans’ Kitchen to one day own its own building to serve veterans, Sue Nedar, the chairwoman of the Kitchen’s board of directors, said the folks at the Liberal Club have been very accommodating, as had the Corky Row Club for nearly four years and the Rev. Robert M. Nemkovich at Blessed Trinity for the past nine months.
Nedar said the partnership with the Liberal Club came about thanks to one of its members, 99-year-old World War II veteran Manny Carvalho, who is a frequent diner at the Veterans’ Kitchen's Wednesday luncheons.
“The Liberal Club loves Manny and Manny loves the Veterans’ Kitchen. That’s really how it happened,” said Nedar. “The Liberal Club members and their board of directors really does a lot to help veterans, including but not limited to donating food to the kitchen.”
Nedar said the organization is grateful for the generosity shown by the Corky Row Club and Blessed Trinity Church in the past five years.
How it started:At Fall River's new Veterans' Kitchen, free meals for those who served
Veterans’ Kitchen has evolved since its founding
Trahan and the volunteers started the Veterans’ Kitchen at the Corky Row Club in October 2019.
When COVID hit a few months later, the organization pivoted and started doing takeout for the veterans and their families until the end of the pandemic.
Trahan said the Veterans’ Kitchen was, in the beginning, mainly funded by volunteers until word spread about the organization’s mission to feed the veterans. Then donations began to come in to help run the program.
Nedar said state Rep. Alan Silvia helped secure a $25,000 earmark to help the kitchen, and recently the City Council appropriated $50,000 in American Rescue Plan Act funding.
Trahan said the money has helped Veterans’ Kitchen provide healthier and better-quality food for its weekly luncheons.
Trahan said the needs of the Veterans’ Kitchen right now is money “to fill our freezers after the move is complete.”
“Gift cards are a huge help, and that way we can go purchase what we really need,” said Trahan. “It’s almost like starting over.”
Moving into a new space, the volunteers recently had to make some expensive purchases like a new convection oven and stainless-steel tables.
“It took a big chunk of our budget,” said Trahan.
To donate to the Veterans’ Kitchen, contact Trahan at 774-526-0611.
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