By Bob Dehn
Volunteer, St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room

Leonard comes to St. Anthony's Dining Room to talk with his buddies, as well as to eat his main meal of the day. He is one of more than 600 guests a day who can get a complete hot meal, Monday through Saturday, all year long at St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room on Middlefield at the Atherton-North Fair Oaks border.

The mission of the Dining Room is to provide a hot, nutritious meal to anyone in need. There are no fees, no questions, and no one is turned away.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are the busiest days of the year, when as many as 1,000 meals are served on these holidays. In conjunction with the Menlo Park Fire Protection District, toys are collected during the Christmas season. As many as 2,000 children receive toys during an annual giveaway event held in the parking lot just before Christmas.

St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room serves from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. daily (except Sunday). In addition to a full, hot meal, guests may take home a bag full of food items, including fresh produce. Dining Room guests include working and nonworking singles, families, seniors, and homeless.

St. Anthony's is funded by donations and grants from many individuals, local businesses, and foundations. The cost of serving over 175,000 meals this year is huge and additional donations are welcome and needed.

St. Anthony's operates through the work of more than 150 dedicated core volunteers, and many other helpers. New volunteers are always appreciated.

The Dining Room opened its doors in 1974 to serve the low-income elderly a weekend meal. However, the need in the community was much greater and allowed St. Anthony's to quickly grow into the much larger operation it is now, serving six days a week, year-round.

In addition to the hot meal program and take-home packages of food, the Dining Room is a place to meet, to talk, and to share stories about new support services or job openings, and what is happening.

St. Anthony's Dining Room also serves patrons with basic health services through the assistance of a San Mateo County Public Health Nurse who comes to the Dining Room one day each week.

There is a Clothing Distribution Center that provides shoes, clothing, blankets, sleeping bags, and baby and infant wear to over 1,000 patrons a month. Adjacent to the Padua Dining Room, the Clothing Center is open on Wednesdays for women and Thursdays for men.

St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room is a community-wide resource helping our neighbors.

At St. Anthony's — "We do not believe in miracles ... We count on them."

Gifts to the Holiday Fund benefit St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room.

INFORMATION: Go to paduadiningroom.com for more information about St. Anthony's Padua Dining Room. Address: 3500 Middlefield Road, Menlo Park, CA 94025. Phone: (650) 365-9664. Max Torres is operations manager. On the advisory council are the Rev. Fabio Medina, president, and Jim Bramlett, chairman. Sources of funding include The Almanac Holiday Fund, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Palo Alto Community Foundation, Sequoia Healthcare District, individual donors, foundations and other community-based organizations.