Ellie Perez started Hot Lunch Sunday in Ellenville in November, as a response to then 43-day government shutdown that caused a pause on SNAP benefits. The shutdown is long over, but Perez said that they still see locals in need, and Sunday is the “perfect day.”

“We're still having a lot of folks come out who are needing food, and the need for community,” Perez said. “I think that's been a need for a while. We're all so isolated. And Sunday just feels like the perfect day, everybody's got an open day.”

Each Sunday afternoon, Perez and her organization offer free food and, more recently, health resources in the chapel of St. Joseph’s Episcopal Church. While not associated with any religion, Perez said the church shares their values and allows them to use the space. The meals and offerings, Perez said, is brought together by community connections and volunteers.

This past Sunday, community members brought pasta, rice, fruits and baked goods to share with one another. Perez said the organization is looking to expand beyond just addressing food insecurity, so in the back, Matthew’s Pharmacy provided medication consultations, vaccines, blood pressure checks, and distributed Narcan kits.

Alejandro Lopez, a Beacon-based artist originally from Cuba, was invited by Perez to participate in the event. He was encouraging attendees to have their photo taken with Hudson Valley artist Kathleen Anderson’s “Star Dance Flagpole,” a pole draped in American flags inspired by a Native American healing ceremony. His project, called We the People Photography, is meant to showcase the diversity of America.

“I just want to have it [the flagpole] like a centerpiece, symbolic element in this time of so much splitting in this nation, and show that what we the people really embrace is the concept of unity and inclusion,” Lopez said. “We’re trying to create a mosaic of faces to show that we are a patchwork, and we make this nation as a patchwork.”

For Perez, this was part of the “patchwork” of different community members offering their own talents, resources and self-expression to make their goal possible. In the future, she hopes for the organization to grow. Starting on March 14, Perez is working on creating Saturday youth workshops for children ages 5-10, focusing on arts and other skills, and in April, creating a Saturday teen space.

“Whatever way that we find that we're able to provide resources to the community, we're trying to branch into,” Perez said. “I think that a lot of folks want to do something, but they don't know what to do. And I think that all of us coming together as a community, we can work together to make these things happen. Everybody's feeling a need and everybody has a strength, everybody has something that they can get and make beautiful.”