The LGBT Center of Greater Reading opens its doors to the community for a monthly meal

The LGBT Center of Greater Reading held its second Warm Meal Wednesday, opening its doors at 640 Centre Ave. to all in need.

“We started our Warm Meal Wednesday program in response to food insecurity and homelessness in Berks County,” Executive Director Michelle Dech said. “It is part of our mission to remove barriers to access and provide programs and services that meet the current needs of our community.”

About 100 people were served a comforting meal of hot potato soup and turkey sandwiches at the LGBT Center, which rents space from Calvary United Church of Christ in the Centre Park Historic District.

Dech said the LGBT Center’s board of directors and staff did some brainstorming after the January meal and decided they could reach more people by distributing the meals from other area locations or delivering them directly.

Leftover servings of soup and sandwiches were packed after Wednesday’s event and distributed from city locations on Penn Street and in Riverfront Park and at the Inn at Reading, Wyomissing, where some families with young children are living, she said.

An anonymous donor recently stepped forward with the gift of a van, Dech said, which is being used

for meal distribution and the delivery of other support services.

“The van has enabled us to meet people where they

are,” she said, “and provide the help they need. Our Warm Meal Wednesday program alone has helped us to provide additional

support services to those we are meeting, some of whom would never have sought us out for help.”

The LGBT’s Center’s

community meals are held at the center on the third Wednesday of each month.

The next event will be March 16 from 5 p.m. to 7

p.m.

For more information or to volunteer, call the LGBT Center of Greater Reading at 484-513-3170.

“We started our Warm Meal Wednesday program in response to food insecurity and homelessness in Berks County. It is part of our mission to remove barriers to access and provide programs and services that meet the current needs of our community.” — Executive Director Michelle Dech

BEN HASTY — MEDIANEWS GROUP Curtis Hartley, health and wellness coordinator for the LGBT Center of Greater Reading ladles out soup during the organization’s Warm Meal Wednesday program for people in need.