Our Mission
Feeding hungry people, no question asked.
The mission at Expanding the Table is to feed as many people in our community as possible, with no questions asked. We invite you to come to the table for a hot meal and community resources. Each week, the truck serves up to 200 meals at our different stops and a total of up to 800 meals per month come from our kitchen into the community through other partnerships and donation locations. We partner with other businesses and nonprofits to serve the Summerville area. As a certified non-profit, we are eligible for foundation grants and other corporate funding to maintain our mission.
Expanding the Table is about so much more than just food. Our volunteers are passionate about the mission and they build loving and lasting relationships with our community members. As Expanding the Table gets to know the guests, we learn more about their stories, and their needs, and work to connect our guests with numerous other resources within the community.
Expanding the Table was created to display the love of Jesus to all who join us at the table by meeting immediate needs and equipping guests with the tools they need to change their trajectory.
Our Vision
A world where everyone collaborates to eliminate hunger.
Over the next 2-3 years, We plan to expand our mission to a brick-and-mortar location on Delmar Highway with a full kitchen. Expanding The Table will have two sites feeding 200 people in both Summerville and off Delmar Highway at Ashley Ridge Church for a total of 400. We aim to continue to build on our mission to feed members of the community who are in need of hot, nutritious meals.
Our Impact
We serve up to 800 meals per week. For 2022 we are tracking to feed over 6,500 meals, make over 2,700 sandwiches, and serve over 4,800 homemade desserts.
Jane K.
“I believe the Expand the Table mission impacts the local community in positive and significant ways. Our guests know they can receive hot and hearty meals without any questions asked, personal information is given, or forms filled out. These meals are often the only solid food our guests will have throughout the week. And many of them know the Expand the Table volunteers will also provide transportation to local doctors and lend a listening ear when needed. In many ways, the Expand The Table mission provides a whole mind, body, and spirit concept to those less fortunate in our community. Our guests know they aren’t invisible or forgotten individuals just because they are down on their luck. I am proud to volunteer with such a vital program that serves those in need.”
Jean W.
“I started working with Expanding the Table in 2016. I was introduced to a community of people that I did not know existed in the Summerville area. Between helping prepare the meals with the cook crew and serving at three different sites a week, I have felt the satisfaction of helping people. The volunteers who show up every week are devoted to the cause. The people who show up for the meal are thankful. We all feel that our mission satisfies a need in our community.”
Kitty Lonergan
“Expanding the Table is the epitome of a grassroots mechanism to better a community. It is ordinary people, coming together to help ordinary people, ostensibly through sharing a meal, but there is so much more value to all it touches.
Having been a part of this organization for a few years, I have seen how the work of providing and serving the meals has broadened my understanding of the volunteers, who the homeless community is, and how no one can say, beyond doubt, that they would never end up there. On the other side, those who are served by this outreach receive a hot meal, but also encouragement, and friendship, lessening their isolation from the community. When there is a relationship at the food truck serving, it continues into the rest of life. People can walk down the street in Summerville, and be greeted as human beings, instead of each party casting eyes in another direction, so as not to be recognized.
I count my time with Expanding the Table as some of my fondest memories and would dearly love to establish a similar type of program in our current community.”