Truro Community Kitchen fights food insecurity in Truro, MA by delivering free, nourishing home-cooked meals to those most in need in our community. We are a certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization run entirely by volunteers. We were founded in April 2020 in response to the COVID-19 crisis, which hit our beloved town especially hard. We quickly learned that the need for a meal delivery program like ours existed in Truro independently of pandemic-created need, which is why we have since re-dedicated ourselves to operating as a permanent, year-round resource in Truro for the foreseeable future.
TCK hit the ground running working out of the kitchen at Box Lunch, a well-known sandwich shop in Truro. Once Box Lunch opened full-time for the summer, we relocated to the Christian Union Church at 27 Shore Road. We started out serving approximately 80 people per week, and just a few weeks later, that number had risen to 180. As people adjust to the "new normal" of the pandemic, our numbers have leveled off to about 115 people per week. We're continuing to accept new registrants, both individuals and families. It is very important to us that we respect the confidentiality of each meal recipient, so we neither record names nor ask people to qualify themselves to receive meals. All you have to do is email us with your address, and you're on the list.
Every Tuesday, a team of spectacular volunteers carries out the preparation, packaging, and delivery of meals to households that have registered for our free meal delivery service. Each package contains enough for at least two meals per person in the household (usually more!) and we work hard to accommodate allergies and dietary restrictions. Meals are delivered in reusable containers and then collected from residents' homes the following week to be sanitized and reused.
We are moved by how members of the community have risen to support each other during this challenging and unpredictable time. Local businesses are donating and discounting goods, restaurants are offering us food and storage space, and volunteers from all over keep signing up to help cook and deliver meals. We also have tremendous gratitude for the Dexter Keezer Fund, the Kelley Foundation, and Sustainable CAPE, all of which are generously supporting us with grants. We are also a member of the Cape Cod Hunger Network, a coalition of organizations fighting food insecurity on the Cape.
TCK has provided a beautiful opportunity for the Outer Cape to showcase how strong it is and how much each community member cares about each other, especially in such a time of crisis. For that, we are truly grateful.
