Our History

Our History:

Table of Grace (TOG) began after learning that 40% of food is wasted in our country while one out of six people go hungry. In 2014 we started looking for sources of usable food that would normally be discarded as waste and added to the landfills of garbage. The Ellwood City Giant Eagle in Beaver County was willing to work with us starting in May of 2014. The rescued food was delivered to soup kitchens, shelters, and families in need. We soon realized our need to form a non-profit organization to continue our mission. We obtained our 501 C3 non-profit status by the end of December 2015. We chose the name Table of Grace Feeding Ministry.
Starting in 2016 we established relationships with individual donors and several churches. These donations helped us expand our ministry opportunities. We learned of food insecurity in our local school district, so we initiated contact with the Darrelle Revis foundation, which helped us establish an after-school backpack program at Riverside school funded by his foundation. A new K – 12 food rescue program was also established at Riverside in 2016 This program helps teach kids that their unopened food that is still consumable is not trash. Unopened items that would normally be discarded are rescued for distribution. The K – 12 food rescue and backpack programs remain active today (2022-2023 school year as Successful Programs.  We also hosted outdoor street feeding events in Beaver Falls (permits required) for 2016 on Memorial Day, 4th of July, and Labor Day.  Soup kitchens closed for these holidays so we felt led to fill this void. We continued to search for new sources of food as well as delivery options.
2017 continued the growth and increased the diversity of TOG. Food rescue continued with daily pick up and deliveries. Food rescued from camp Kon-O-Kwee in Fombell began in 2017. Prepared food in 18 x 24-inch pans was distributed to provide meals. These meals went to Trails Ministry, Moffat House, and Crossroads Shelter (for homeless men) in Beaver Falls, along with others like the Women’s Shelter in Beaver, City Rescue Mission in New Castle, and some other soup kitchens and food pantries in the area. Several families also benefited from this food rescue effort. Purchasing the foil pans and lids helped us sustain this rescue opportunity.
K – 12 rescue and the weekend backpack programs continued at Riverside Middle School for the 2017 – 2018 school year. The program was expanded to include the elementary school cafeteria as suggested by the school principal. A new program, Riverside Super Heroes, was created to help pay off delinquent lunch accounts at Riverside. Their food service director sent out request letters for donations specifically for this program. Donation checks were written to TOG. Funds were then distributed to the school to pay off delinquent accounts using their discretion.
TOG hosted two outdoor street feedings in 2017, on Memorial Day and the 4th of July. The Labor Day feeding was cancelled. TOG had developed into a service that impacted many people in a positive way, including the volunteers. Street feedings became to be too great of a burden weighed against other factors, so this was the last year for these events.
By the year 2018 TOG had developed a network of connections to volunteers and organizations that led us to other ministry opportunities. The food rescue and school programs continued at the same pace as 2017 with some other additions. We averaged traveling 150 miles per week for food rescue. Riverside Super Heroes debt was reported to be approximately $7000. So far, the account has received and distributed approximately $2000.
During 2018 we participated in the annual Point in Time census to help assess the population of homeless in Beaver County. Tanis was asked to be meal coordinator at Crossroads Shelter and accepted the position. We were already delivering food rescued from Kon-O-Kwee to them, but the shelter needed volunteers to provide meals for the open dates on the daily meal schedule. We also added a Facebook donation button in 2018, opening a savings account designated to receive these funds. Support from churches and private donors was increasing.
2010 through September of 2022 continues testing our ability to adapt to the needs of the community. Work on food rescue and school programs continued. Meal coordinator continued also. The church hosting Crossroads Shelter for homeless men offered the use of their kitchen and dining area to fill a need we knew existed.  The only day with meal served in Beaver Falls was Thursday, so we decided to start a soup kitchen beginning in January 2019 to fill the void. We rescued plenty of food to help us sustain our feeding ministry. Unfortunately, the shelter closed for good in June 2019, but we continued the soup kitchen which served 60 – 80 meals per week.
The soup kitchen operated from January 2019 through mid-March 2020. The pandemic brought the need for change. The meals could no longer be in the dining room, so a change to take out was our only option. This added the cost of take-out containers and individual drinks was significant. Complicating the situation, the church we were serving out of was about to shut down due to COVID. We had already found a place more friendly to serving takeout meals, so we finished the move before the shut down and began serving at Central United Methodist church by mid-March. We didn’t miss a meal. We added the Monday night feeding from the to TOG in March 2020. We also served the Wednesday night meal prepared by the regular host church for several weeks at the beginning of the pandemic until they were able to resume feeding.

Our number of meals served has increased steadily.
2019- 4160 meals
2020- 12,393 meals
2021- 14,921 meals
2022- 14,053 meals
2023- To Date