Come join us!
Free Community Suppers, every Wednesday evening at 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
Enjoy fellowship and a good meal.
- vegetarian or meat marinara sauce with regular or gluten-free spaghetti
- fresh garlic bread
- green salad and southwest bean salad
- homemade desserts
- juice, coffee
Want to help? We always appreciate homemade desserts. Drop them off by 5 p.m. on Wednesdays in the downstairs kitchen. The supper has two food prep and two cleanup teams who alternate weeks. New help that can join one of the weekly crews is always appreciated. High school students and others are encouraged to volunteer for Community Service hours!
History: Since 2003, a free spaghetti supper has been served to an average of 50 people each week. Originally supported by the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist congregation, the supper is completely volunteer-led (by volunteers ranging in age from 10 to 90) and has received small grants from organizations such as NH Charitable Foundation and other area foundations.
The mission has been to provide dinner in a social setting for a diverse cross-section of Monadnock area residents; to feed residents for whom the cost of food is a challenge; to provide an opportunity for community service and training students where they interact with a diverse population that they might not otherwise know. In addition, the supper has enabled participants to practice their principles: respect for our local community and the environment by buying local foods (organic when possible/affordable), using real china, silverware and glasses rather than disposables, and teaching and mandating recycling.
The Peterborough Community supper crew makes the spaghetti sauces from scratch, uses fresh garlic on its garlic bread, makes a spicy southwest bean salad and serves a fresh green salad. In the summer of 2026, the salad greens were donated by the Cornucopia Project in Peterborough.Desserts are donated each week by people from both the congregation and local community.
Funding: The supper accepts donations and applies for grants when needed. In 2011 the supper was in jeopardy of being shut down due to being out of compliance for kitchen fire safety. A funding campaign was launched, which partially paid for kitchen and dining room renovations.
Everyone is welcome to come enjoy a meal at no cost. Families are encouraged and a children's table is available, where kids enjoy dining together.
