St. Peter’s Kitchen has been serving the Westside community of Rochester since 1982, when our program was founded by Father Richard Czierwin, SS.CC.
We started out as a once-a-week Saturday soup and sandwich program. Today we serve a well-balanced lunch to an average of 160 people a day, Monday through Friday. Our guests come from all walks of life; many face troubles with addiction, mental illness, physical illness, homelessness, and severe poverty. We are a non-referral agency meaning anyone who walks through our doors is welcome to share in a meal.
Many food programs in our area require income documentation in order to be served. We feel there should be a few programs in the city that are open to all – like St. Peter’s.
For 40 years, we’ve fostered a strong and connected community and have gained the trust of the people we serve. We have become a pillar in the community and recognize our unique ability to act as a center to start expanding our programs to address the root causes of the devastating poverty that many of our guests experience. We started on that path when we began St. Peter’s Garden of Love in partnership with Foodlink as well as being a host to Foodlink’s many course offerings aimed at building food security and knowledge.