Our Mission

Our mission is to provide nutritional support, necessary resources, and personal connection to people struggling with food insecurity in the westside of Rochester. In addition to the aid we provide, we strive to create a nourishing, uplifting, and caring community network, with the ultimate goal of eradicating hunger and breaking cycles of poverty.

Nourishment.
Community.
Hope.

At St. Peter’s Kitchen, we provide nourishment. We believe that everyone deserves access to healthy food. We prepare hundreds of balanced meals on a daily basis through our hot lunch program to make nutritious and quality food accessible to people who are food-insecure. We also provide a choice pantry, including fresh fruit, vegetables, and dairy. More than just nourishing the body, we create a safe space in our dining room and warmly welcome anyone who walks through our doors, nourishing the soul through generosity, hospitality, and care.

At St. Peter’s Kitchen, we foster community. We believe that kindness is as important to one’s well-being as regular and healthy food, so we serve our neighbors with friendly faces and open hearts. Inspired by our namesake, St. Peter, we are committed to creating an empathetic and welcoming environment in our dining room and beyond. Evidenced by the relationships between staff, volunteers, and guests, the connections formed in our joyful space, we continue to create a diverse, life-giving, and vibrant community.

At St. Peter’s Kitchen, we encourage hope. We believe that hope is the cornerstone of the foundation upon which one can build a new chapter of their life. We believe that systemic change and universal access to healthy food is possible and that one crucial part of that end is hope. Everything we do at St. Peter’s is imbued with hope, from our meals each day, to our outreach programs, to our social work services, and this hope is what drives our fight for change.

Our History

In 1982, when Father Richard Czerwien founded St. Peter’s Kitchen, he was distributing soup-and-sandwich meals each Saturday to the community around Saints Peter and Paul’s Church. Keenly aware of the cycles of poverty that restrain generations of Rochesterians, Father Czerwien wanted to create a place of refuge, comfort, and renewal for people without regular access to healthy food, reliable and safe housing, and steady income.

Since then, with the kitchen getting firmly established at 681 Brown Street, St. Peter’s has been a life-giving and reliable sanctuary for the west side of Rochester for over 42 years.

Now, the kitchen is open each weekday, feeding anyone who walks in the door, no referral necessary. Around 300 people each weekday receive hot, nutritious, and balanced meals to eat in the dining area or to take to-go. In addition to the lunch program, St. Peter’s supplies hundreds of meals each week for the Project Haven housing initiative, and the pantry program gives people an opportunity to select several meals worth of fresh fruit, vegetables, dairy, and meat for them and their families. St. Peter’s has social workers on staff who are available to provide one-on-one support and counseling. Several seasonal programs, like the pantry’s food stand at Westside Farmers Market, the St. Peter’s Garden of Love community garden’s fresh produce, and the Thanksgiving baskets and Christmas toy store in the holiday season, bolster St. Peter’s resources throughout the year. St. Peter’s Kitchen is constantly dedicated to the community it serves, seeking out ways to disrupt and break cycles of poverty, and to provide empathetic and personal care.

Our Video

Get an inside look at Christmas at St. Peter's.