{"id":835,"date":"2026-06-27T01:32:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-27T01:32:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/welcometothetableproject.org\/?page_id=835"},"modified":"2026-06-27T03:06:30","modified_gmt":"2026-06-27T03:06:30","slug":"our-story","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/welcometothetableproject.org\/index.php\/our-story\/","title":{"rendered":"OUR STORY"},"content":{"rendered":"

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OUR STORY<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Welcome to The Table Project was founded in 2017 when long-time resident and community advocate, Mrs. Marlene Banks wanted to address food insecurities in the Sto-Rox community.\u00a0 Mrs. Banks’ vision was about more than feeding hungry people.\u00a0 It was to bring community members together for connection and company, and that everyone served be treated with compassion, dignity, and respect.\u00a0 “You don’t have to be homeless to be hungry” became the battle cry of the early years.\u00a0 With help and support from Mrs. Banks’ son, Ed Pierce (Co-Founder), Welcome To The Table Project was born.<\/p>\n

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WELCOME TO THE TABLE PROJECT TIMELINE<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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  • 2018<\/strong> Weekly meals began at the Christ Community Church in McKees Rocks with 25-40 community residents coming to eat every Wednesday.<\/li>\n
  • 2019<\/strong> Meals were moved to the VFW Post 418.\u00a0 Attendance steadily grew, and a delivery service was considered.<\/li>\n
  • 2020<\/strong> In-person weekly meals were put on hold due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, however, Mrs. Banks and her team quickly gathered resources and began making Breakfast Bags for the food pantries in McKees Rocks and Stowe Township, as well as for local senior living centers.<\/li>\n
  • 2021<\/strong> Weekly in-person dinners were still on hold, however,\u00a0 Mrs. Banks and her team created \u201cGrab & Go\u201d dinners. Program participants could pick-up hot meals to go.<\/li>\n
  • 2022\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cGrab & Go\u201d distribution was moved to the Sto-Rox High School Cafeteria.\u00a0 Meals were distributed to the community as well as to students participating in extracurricular activities.<\/li>\n
  • 2023\u00a0 <\/strong>Sit-down dinners returned.\u00a0 Weekly meals were once again served every Tuesday.<\/li>\n
  • 2024 – Present<\/strong>\u00a0 Commander Ed Carter and his team at the VFW welcomed Welcome To The Table Project’s\u00a0 weekly meals back to the VFW.\u00a0 Weekly meals continue to be served on Tuesdays at 6pm.<\/li>\n
  • 2024 \u2013 Present<\/strong>\u00a0 \u00a0NEW!\u00a0<\/strong> Overseen by Natalie and Ed Pierce, \u201cAfterCare\u201d provides dinners and snack bags (for up to 6 weeks) to families that have lost loved ones to gun violence.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.5″ _module_preset=”default” text_text_color=”#000000″ text_font_size=”22px” text_orientation=”center” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n

    FUTURE PLANS<\/strong><\/h1>\n

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    As food prices continue to soar, Welcome To The Table Project’s programs and services are needed now more than ever!<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Future plans for Welcome To The Table Project center on thoughtful, sustainable growth. We aim to reach even more neighbors in the Sto\u2011Rox community by expanding the number of meals we serve and increasing our delivery capacity for those who cannot attend in person. We are also working toward securing a permanent home of our own, a dedicated space that will allow us to broaden our programs, operate more efficiently, and deepen our long\u2011term impact.<\/p>\n

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    OUR STORY Welcome to The Table Project was founded in 2017 when long-time resident and community advocate, Mrs. Marlene Banks wanted to address food insecurities in the Sto-Rox community.\u00a0 Mrs. Banks’ vision was about more than feeding hungry people.\u00a0 It was to bring community members together for connection and company, and that everyone served be […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-835","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/welcometothetableproject.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/835","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/welcometothetableproject.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/welcometothetableproject.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/welcometothetableproject.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/welcometothetableproject.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=835"}],"version-history":[{"count":21,"href":"https:\/\/welcometothetableproject.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/835\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":882,"href":"https:\/\/welcometothetableproject.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/835\/revisions\/882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/welcometothetableproject.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}