Shelter and Street Meals

We believe that when we feed the poor we feed Christ, and that when we do this extraordinarily well, Heaven celebrates.

St. Lawrence Shelter and Street Meals teams work on three related projects that help provide adequate nutrition, essential to human dignity and survival, to both the sheltered and the homeless poor in Asheville. They are funded in part by grants from the Western Carolina Community Foundation and Catholic Relief Services, and also benefit from parishioner contributions as well as volunteer and community food donations. Together these projects serve a total of approximately 9,800 individual meals annually, but they are, of course, about much more than food. While adequate nutrition is indeed essential to human dignity, we believe that equally so is the caring and respect with which the meals are served by our volunteers.

The Rescue Mission Breakfast Team purchases, prepares, and serves approximately 80 hot breakfasts twice monthly to men, women, and children at the nearby Western Carolina Rescue Mission.

The Veterans Shelter Meals Teams purchase, prepare, and serve two meals per month to approximately 180 residents of Veteran’s Restoration Quarters, a transitional shelter here in Asheville for vets who would otherwise be homeless.

The Saint Lawrence Street Meals Team purchases, packs, and distributes 70 bag lunches every Wednesday to those without any shelter at all, living on the street. Parishioner Madeleine Pflaumbaum, long active in street ministry in Asheville, personally distributes the lunches. Parishioner Ginny Dack regularly prepares and donates homemade food for the lunches—home baked cookies and brownies, special dishes such as meatloaf, pulled pork, and BBQ beef for sandwiches, chili, and salads. We are also grateful for donations of gourmet bread from Panera Bread Co. and The Country Club of Asheville.