The community garden outside the Sister Maureen Joyce Center
was once an abandoned lot in a low-income neighborhood in
Albany, N.Y. Today, it provides fresh fruits and vegetables
to the center’s soup kitchen, where nearly 130 people gather
three times a week for a lunch made from scratch by
volunteers like Lois Keefrider.
Keefrider praises the Garden of Feedin’ and the fresh produce
it provides. But for the people she serves, it’s about more
than the food.
“It’s a whole community aspect of being around the table,”
said Keefrider. “Many of these people are homeless, and this
is their home, this is their family.”
The abandoned-lot-turned-fruitful-garden is a symbol of the
center’s mission: to bring hope – and a home – to neighbors
who are struggling.
Whether they’ve just lost their job, or have been battling an
addiction for years, everyone and anyone is welcome. “There
is no requirement to walk in the door,” said Keefrider, who
began volunteering as a chef in 2007 to fulfill requirements
for culinary school. “It was the perfect way to use my
passion to create nutritious meals for people in need.”
Keefrider and her fellow volunteers make a special effort to
ensure the meals are nutritious, knowing that for many
guests, it’s the only time they’re able to eat fresh fruits
and vegetables. Served at every meal is a salad made with
fresh greens from the garden.
But the garden is more than a place to grow food; it
brightens up a neighborhood composed of concrete, abandoned
lots, addiction and unemployment.
“These people’s lives are so difficult – in a way that my
sons and I can never fathom,” said Maria Barbieri, whose
teenaged sons, Charlie and Michael, started the Garden of
Feedin.’
“The idea that we can, in some tiny way, communicate with
them that they matter, that their neighborhood matters and
that they deserve to have beauty outside their window just
like everyone else – that is important to me.”
In addition to the soup kitchen and community garden, the
Sister Maureen Joyce Center houses a food pantry that
supplies 300 households each month with nutritious food and
cooking supplies. Young families with children are able to
obtain diapers, formula, clothing and strollers at Mary’s
Corner, the center’s ministry for young families.
The Sister Maureen Joyce Center receives funding from CRS
Rice Bowl donations – from the 25 percent designated for
local use by the Diocese of Albany’s CRS Rice Bowl
collection.
Find out more
Contact Carla Walsh, diocesan coordinator for Catholic Relief
Services, at 703/841-3839 or [email protected].
Paul McAvoy | CATHOLIC CHARITIES
First grade students from St. Thomas the Apostle Catholic
School in Delmar, N.Y., install plants in the Garden of
Feedin’, a community garden.
Penne della Palma
Recipe courtesy of Fr. Leo Patalinghug
gracebeforemeals.com
Makes 4 servings
1 pound penne pasta
1 14-ounce can hearts of palm
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered
1/4 cup parsley, minced
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs butter
1/2 cup brandy
1/2 cup starchy pasta water
1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 Tbs salt and pepper (or to taste)
Boil pasta until al dente. Drain water, but reserve 1/2 cup
of starchy pasta water. Drain water from hearts of palm and
cut into 1/4-inch pieces. In a large pan, heat olive oil and
butter, then saute garlic, parsley, tomatoes, and hearts of
palm. Add cheese and breadcrumbs, and combine. Add brandy,
water, and cream (Be careful: cooking with liquor is
flammable). Add pasta and mix together. Add salt and pepper
to taste. Add a drizzle of olive oil and a dusting of grated
Parmesan cheese for more flavor.
