Lunch Team Responsibilities

List of Responsibilities

One of the many ways we at St. Nicholas are given to show our love of God and our commitment to our community, is our active participation in preparing and serving the wonderful meals we share following Sunday Liturgy.

This year we have been blessed with people stepping forward, volunteering to help, so that we now have 9 rotating lunch teams.

Some teams are new, and not familiar with all that being on a team entails. Other teams have asked for reminders. We hope that the following lunch team guidelines are useful for all of us, as we continue this service to our church.

Serving sizes of dishes are different when preparing for a small “pot luck” vs. a lunch team offering. When it is your week to cook, think between 70 and 80 people will enjoy each of your dishes. If you have no idea how much food that means, there are many people you could ask (Larissa, Natasha, Mat. Elaine, or Susan G. for example).
Lunch teams are responsible for emptying the dishwasher from the previous week, preparing the food, serving it, and cleaning up after the meal. This includes washing dishes, emptying and cleaning the coffee pot, emptying the water container (especially during warm months), starting the dishwasher, sweeping the hall, and wiping down the tables. Because of rodent and ant potential problems, the kitchen must be left clean, with no food left on the counters.
During the summer, teams should also wash down the tables on the patio (before the meal) for those who prefer to eat outside.
Not all members of our teams are cooks, and not all our cooks are physically able to set up and clean up. We try to balance our teams so that both parts of the job are covered. If this is a problem on your team, please talk to Susan.
Some people want to participate, but feel they can’t for financial reasons. Please know that if you want to be on a lunch team, but don’t have the money to buy the food, it is absolutely all right to take the difference between what you can afford, and what your dish costs, from the money in the kitty. It is important to leave the receipts for your dish in the box if you are getting reimbursed for what you purchased. One member of your team should stay by the kitty collecting donations for the meal. At the end of the meal, the money can be given to the appropriate Fellowship Treasurer.
Please do not leave leftovers in the refrigerator. Take them home or offer them to parishioners. Food piles up in the fridge, and eventually rots and gets tossed. Only on Sundays preceding candle-making or preceding Pre-sanctified Liturgy, leftovers may be saved in the fridge.
Someone on each team should have a list of birthdays. Susan sends updates periodically. Please check the list to know whose birthday is coming up when you cook. As a rule of thumb, if the birthday person has an adult family member in the church, the team should contact that family member to see if they are bringing a special dessert. If the birthday person has no family in the church, check to see if there is a cake in the freezer to help celebrate, or bring one as part of your planned dessert. This is more symbolic than intended to supply dessert to the entire community, and shouldn’t replace the dessert that the group is planning to prepare.
As a reminder, food for lunch includes food for the main table, as well as juices, milk or ½ & ½ for coffee (except during fasts, when fake milk rules), and desserts. Please refer to the church calendar to see if you are cooking during a fast period. Several people have requested that we now dilute juices by 50% with filtered water (at the sink) and serve them in the pitchers just to the right of the kitchen sink (cheaper and less sugar for the children).
We try to have the schedule prepared a couple of months in advance. If it is not possible for your team to cook on its designated day, please ask another group to trade with you.

It is very clear that without everyone’s participation, the lunch teams fall apart. If you are having difficulty, please talk with Susan to work it out.

Thank you, St. Nicholas Fellowship