100,000 served!

Cor Unum volunteer Margaret K. Oliveto keeps an ongoing tally of the guests as she directs them to the dining area. “I have made a lot of friends at this desk,” she said. (Pilot photo/ Neil W. McCabe)

MacDonald's may have "served billions" of burgers, but the meals served at Cor Unum (One Heart) come with large helpings of love and sacrifice - not too mention warm welcomes and smiles.

More than 100,000 meals later, the Cor Unum Meal Center, operated by St. Patrick Parish, marked its first year Sept. 30 with a special dinner for the community members it serves.

“Rather than invite the people who helped build it, we decided to celebrate with our guests,” said Diane Jarvis, the meal center’s director. Jarvis said before the center opened she and the other members of the parish researched the needs of the community by interviewing local social service providers.

“We built this then knowing of the tremendous nutritional needs in Lawrence,” said Father Paul O’Brien, the pastor of St. Patrick’s. “Now, there is a tremendously super need in Lawrence.” Father O’Brien said the 90-seat center started out serving dinner and breakfast three days a week. By the summer, the center had ramped up to seven days a week.

The original concept for Cor Unum was to provide one seating per meal but, as it has evolved, the center can now serve 250 meals for dinner and 150 meals for breakfast seamlessly, he said.

The model is based on a fine dining restaurant, Father O’Brien said. There are greeters at the door, who bring the diners to their seats. Waiters and waitresses take the orders, pour drinks and bring guests’ food to the table. When the dinner is finished, they clear the plates and ask what the guests would like for dessert. Other volunteers clear tables to allow the wait staff to devote their full attention to guests. Jarvis said the anniversary menu included shrimp cocktail; hummus with flatbread; baked brie with cranberries, apricots and almonds; roasted turkey with all the fixings and a variety of desserts.

“The goal of the center is not just to feed the hungry, but to feed the hungry excellently,” Father O’Brien said. “No other facility in the United States provides like we do. We are the most elegant, with the best flowers, the best music, the cleanest restrooms and the highest quality food.” He added, “When you provide the people who have the least the best available is when you live Christ’s love most directly.”
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(Pilot story by correspondent Neil McCabe)

Fr. Paul O'Brien once served at St. Bernard Parish and support for Cor Unum from Holy Family parishioners has been generous. Our youth have raised funds by selling Labels Are for Jars T-shirts. You can read the full report here.