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In last week's free lunch line, one woman paused to say thank you.
That day, she was able to eat two meals, instead of the usual, one.
She was one of the 14 people who came to the test run Feb. 3 of the Salvation Army's Brown Bag Lunch Program, coordinated by social services worker Dennis Klinger.
Volunteers filled 50 brown paper bags, each with a bologna sandwich, an orange and a small bottle of water. They put out fliers that morning around Dade City, telling people to come to the Salvation Army's service center, at 14445 Seventh St., at 10 a.m. The fliers brought 14 hungry people. The remaining 36 bags were taken to a nearby homeless camp.
Klinger said he's looking to hand out the lunches every week and, if he gets enough support, every day.
The bread and the meat for that day's sandwiches were donated by Chancey Road Christian Church Outreach. The oranges came from Hancock Grove. Klinger said a man unexpectedly drove up to the service center and offered two cases of bottled water.
Each lunch cost between $1.50 and $2 to make.
He said the Salvation Army has agreed to fund the program for 90 days, but he hopes that community donations will pick up where it leaves off.
Chancey Road Christian Church Outreach will keep donating the bread. HIS Share House Outreach will donate lunch meat. Klinger said a private donor bought 50 oranges for another batch of lunches handed out Friday. The Salvation Army bought the water.
To serve lunches daily, Klinger is looking for donors. He said the program would be self-sustaining if he could find one organization for each day of the week to donate supplies for 50 lunches.
He said that between finding enough donors and spreading awareness, the program could be handing out 100 lunches a day, five days a week.
"The need is going to speak for itself," he said.
And when it does?
"We're going to smile, hand you a lunch and say, 'God bless you.' "
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