Our Mission
Feeding hungry people, no question asked.
Expanding the Table feeds hungry people – no questions asked.
Expanding the Table offers a one-of-a-kind service to the community. Via our food
truck, we go “on location” to communities, providing easier access to hot meals at no cost to our guests. Not only do we provide our guests with a hot meal, but we also build relationships and share information about resources for food pantries, clothing closets, healthcare, housing/shelter, employment, and other essential human needs. We assist with a hand up, not a handout.
Our mission has served the Summerville, SC, area since 2015. Until March 2019, it was an Ashley Ridge Church outreach mission. In 2021, we began to consider the creation of a separate non-profit, which we named Expanding the Table. Thanks to generous donations from several organizations and individual donors, we have been operating successfully since January 2022.
While our numbers have increased year over year, we recognize that a much larger
share of Dorchester County residents live in poverty, and we need to determine how
best to assist our neighbors in need. Our goal is to continue increasing the number of people we serve in Dorchester County.
We feed anyone who comes to our table.
Our Vision
A world where everyone collaborates to eliminate hunger.
Our Impact
In 2025, Expanding the Table served 15,760 hot meals, bagged lunches, and
sandwiches to the Dorchester County Summerville area. Our goal is to increase service by 10% or more each year.
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.”