Meet & Eat: Feeding Our Community Through Meals & Meaningful Connections

The Salem Meet and Eat dinners are free, twice-monthly meals open to all residents of Salem. In partnership with the City of Salem, these dinners are hosted the second Wednesday of each month at the Maritime Park (in summer months), the Saltonstall School (September through June), and year-round at the Salem Community Life Center on the fourth Thursday of the month.

Dinners run 5:00 - 6:30 PM. Follow us on social media for the monthly menus and any updates on location or service. Meals will be served sit-down style on site with some to-go containers available. Please bring your own bag if you plan to take it to go.

In September, 2018, Root began a new initiative to fulfill its mission of ‘Feeding Opportunity and Community’ with Meet & Eat monthly dinners. Before being interrupted by Covid, over 120 people gathered monthly at the Saltonstall Elementary School for a wholesome meal and good conversation.

We are grateful to former Mayor Kim Driscoll, whose vision to alleviate food insecurity in Salem has provided us with generous support to make these meals possible. Of the program, she said, “This effort builds upon the foundation created by our comprehensive Community Food Assessment and is just one more way we’re working to improve health and strengthen community in Salem.” We are also grateful to the many community partners, volunteers, and donors who contribute to make this series an ongoing success.

Salem Meet & Eat’s resumed in summer 2021, continuing through the school year in a grab-and-go format, and in 2022 we added a second monthly meal at the Salem Community Life Center! We hope to see you at one of the dinner dates listed above! If you’d like to learn more about the Salem Meet & Eat dinner series and/or get involved, please contact Faith Emerson at femerson@rootns.org.

Thank you to our generous funders and partners
who granted us the opportunity to bring our community together!

And a special thank you to our friends at the Hawthorne Hotel for their partnership with our Saltonstall School dinners. The Hawthorne team generously provides a delicious dessert and volunteer support for the monthly Saltonstall School dinners!