This grant will initiate a one-year composting pilot program for Ipswich Dinner Bell. The success of the program will leverage additional interest and support to establish a sustained, permanent composting program, making an already awesome Ipswich program even more awesome!
Dinner Bell is a cherished community institution that offers free, hot, nutritious meals to anyone; this is especially critical at a time when food insecurity is prevalent in Ipswich. For 14 years, Dinner Bell has been serving delicious meals to approx. 80 guests every Monday evening at the Masonic Lodge. From newcomers to regulars, Dinner Bell welcomes all with an atmosphere of inclusion, community, fellowship, and shared gratitude. In addition to serving guests in person, volunteers deliver another 90 meals each week to the homebound. For many, the Dinner Bell meal may be their only social interaction with others during the week. For others, it may be their only hot meal.
From preparation to dining room set up, through meal service and clean up, Dinner Bell runs as a well-oiled, efficient machine. At the end of meal service, remaining meals are packaged and offered to guests to supplement at-home nutrition. Unfortunately, not every morsel of food gets consumed or brought home by guests, so with every community meal comes an unavoidable amount of food waste. Currently, all food scraps and paper goods (e.g., napkins) go into the trash. Depending on the number of guests, the food waste can be significant and is by far the greatest contributor to solid waste generated. Composting has been suggested for years; however, funding has never been available. Meals cost $400-500/week to prepare, and only a portion (approximately 1/3) of meal “sponsors” pay those costs. Food for the majority of meals is purchased using donations. As Dorothy Calandra, Dinner Bell organizer, expressed frankly, “I can either spend the limited money we have on composting, or spend it on food. I need to spend it on food."