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Phoenix youth step up at community dinners Phoenix High seniors Jacqueline Reyes, left, and Sara Espana help serve guests at the free Phoenix community dinner Thursday evening. [Mail Tribune / Andy Atkinson] Monday Jan 15, 2018 at 4:09 PM Jan 15, 2018 at 4:09 PM Tony Boom for the Mail Tribune Young volunteers are a vital part of the free Phoenix community dinners held every second and fourth Thursday at First Presbyterian Church. The meals mark their eighth anniversary Jan. 25. Usually about six to 10 young people show up to volunteer during a dinner, said Carolyna Marshall, who coordinates the events. Ideally there are 26 volunteers, but Marshall said the meal can run with as few as 15 workers. “To see a bunch of people coming together, having conversations and eating dinner feels like a community,” said Trinity Mathis, 17, who has helped at nearly every dinner since July 2016. First Phoenix Community Center offers the dinners, a clothes closet and a twice-per-week food pantry. After operating under the church, the group gained nonprofit status in March 2016. Last year the dinners averaged 101 plates per session, with more than 200 on special occasions. Young helpers come from Phoenix High School, Talent Middle School, Armadillo Technical School, Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops, as well as youth on their own or with parents. Chase Benschoti, 16, a student at Armadillo Technical School, started working at the dinners when he was 12. “There are good people and good food, and it's sometimes hard, but it's helping feed a lot of them,” said Benschoti. Diners eat either in an activity space at the rear of the sanctuary or in the Fireside Room. Servers bring the food to guests. “We want them to be served and treated with dignity,” said Marshall. Kandy Scott, who has worked in restaurants, helps oversee the servers. She’s volunteered at the dinners for three years and coordinates the community closet clothes giveaway program. “Try to get the whole table served all at once,” Scott advised Phoenix High seniors Sara Espana and Jacqueline Reyes, who were serving meals. Espana was at the dinner as part of a senior project that is looking at ways to get basic needs met and how that affects people. Attendees Thursday included Mayor Chris Luz and his children, Dillon, 13, and Sierra, 10. They have worked at dinners previously. Phoenix-Talent School District Superintendent Brent Berry also came by, but there were some who were in need of the meal. One 81-year-old diner, who asked to not be identified, said without the meals and food from the pantry he wouldn’t be eating regularly. Caleb Maynard, 15, and his brother, Bailey, 17, of Boy Scout Troop 535, try to serve at as many meals as possible, but after-school activities sometimes get in the way. “We do it when we can,” said Bailey. Girl Scout Troop 30021 donated $250 from its cookie sales proceeds to support the Thanksgiving dinner last year. The girls currently work in the clothes closet, but will begin serving next year when they are a little older, troop leader Siobhan Olson said. When they were founded, the meals were planned to attract homeless people who might have been along the Bear Creek Greenway, said Marshall, who joined the effort in its second year. They transformed into community dinners when not many homeless people showed up, but after that more appeared to come. About seven homeless people had been served an hour into Thursday’s dinner, Marshall said. Thursday's menu included French onion soup, chicken a la king, polenta, mixed vegetables and rhubarb parfait. Donations from guests, food groups and local merchants provide food for the meals. The organization has had grants in the past and is seeking more. Iron Skillet will cater the anniversary meal Jan. 25. The sessions run from 5 to 7 p.m. at 121 Second St. — Tony Boom is an Ashland freelance writer. Reach him at [email protected].