Partner Spotlight: Until No One Is Hungry, the Sandwich Board Opens Every Thursday

Every Thursday, a line forms outside Trinity Episcopal Church in Aurora. Gale is at the front with the coffee. She has volunteered here for 30 years, and she knows most guests by name. She also knows how they take their coffee.

“I try to remember names,” she told us. “I think that’s important. Make them feel like they’re somebody special.” Her fellow volunteer Marcia finished the thought: “And they are.”

Episcopal Charities supports the Sandwich Board through a Parish Partner Grant to Trinity, renewed this year. In October 2026, we spent a morning at Trinity with the people who keep it running, from the parish office to the coffee table.

Forty years of Thursdays

The Sandwich Board began in Lent 1985. The first meal was a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, served to five or six people. The name stuck.

It is not one parish’s ministry. The Sandwich Board is a partnership of eight congregations along the Aurora area. Partner churches make sandwiches in their own kitchens and bring them to Trinity, where volunteers assemble the lunches and distribute. Many now bring volunteers with them. Some volunteers come from outside the Episcopal Church entirely. Over years of Thursdays, many have become close friends.

Today the ministry serves about 350 guests every Thursday. At its peak, it served close to 500. A core team of eight or nine volunteers sets up each week, rain or shine, 52 weeks a year. Linda Barber has been part of it since the beginning. She manages the program along with Scott Mouis. “It’s integral to Trinity,” said Rob Borchert, the parish office manager. “I can’t imagine the place being without it.”

The front line

Gale and Marcia are among the first faces guests see. Marcia, who has volunteered for 15 years, hands out the lunches. Gale runs the coffee (and lemonade in the summer). “No matter how hot it is, there’s always 10 or 15 people that have to have their coffee,” she said.

There is also a table of clothing. As winter approaches, guests ask for coats and socks. Another volunteer brings new socks and underwear each week. The team knows its regulars well enough to share limited items fairly.

A few weeks ago, a man arrived barefoot. Someone had stolen his shoes the night before. He wore a size 10, and the only pair left was a size 12. He took them, tied them tight, and thanked the volunteers again and again.

For Marcia, the work is simple. “Jesus said He wants us to be His hands and His feet,” she said. “We just have to treat them respectfully and love them as best we can.”

What the grant makes possible

Episcopal Charities’ second Parish Partner Grant to Trinity is funding a new commercial dishwasher. It sounds like a small thing. For the Sandwich Board, it isn’t.

The old machine was little more than a sanitizer, and it never cleaned reliably. For the past four or five years, volunteers have washed and checked dishes by hand. The new unit handles 30 racks an hour. “The people that have been doing the dishes by hand will be very thankful that it’s here,” Rob said.

Before COVID, the Sandwich Board served sit-down dinners. Today guests take lunches to go, and in colder months the team plans to add hot meals in to-go containers. That means more dishes and a greater need for proper sanitation. Reliable equipment helps the ministry run well today. It also positions the Sandwich Board to grow, if it chooses to.

Closing the door

We asked Linda what she looks forward to most each week. “Closing the door,” she said. Then she explained. If the Sandwich Board could close its doors for good, it would mean no one was hungry.

Until that day, the doors open every Thursday. We are grateful to Linda, Scott, Rob, Gale, Marcia, and every volunteer and partner congregation who make that possible.

Every Parish Partner Grant starts with a gift. When you give to Episcopal Charities, you help parishes like Trinity serve their neighbors through hunger relief, creation care, violence prevention, and equity work.