Over 400 enjoy delicious lunch, courtesy of Community Connections, Larkin’s Depot

by Dan McClelland

A delicious lunch was on the house for over 400 local residents and visitors Wednesday, thanks to a one-day partnership between Community Connections of Franklin County and Larkin’s Junction Depot on Main Street.

Community Connections operates an outreach and recovery center in newly renovated quarters at 64 Demars Blvd. and Wednesday’s event was one way for staff members to meet many more folks in the community and for people here to familiarize them with all the good things the agency does.

According to Lee Rivers, executive director of the Mental Health Association of Franklin County which oversees the Community Connections program, the agency’s mission here is to help support “the Tupper Lake community through these trying times that may have had a negative impact on some here.”

“We are so happy too that Larkins’ Junction Depot partnered with us which shows how much they also want to give back to the community.”

He said he and his staff members appreciated the efforts by community members to spread the word about that free lunch event. The free lunch was publicized two weeks ago in the hometown weekly.

Mary Kathleen Larkin, who operates the business with her husband Steve, said they enjoyed working with Community Connections. “We got to feed a lot of people and hopefully made some new customers.”

The free lunch ran Wednesday from 11a.m. to 4p.m. and they served the last sandwiches just before the close of the five-hour event.

Mary and staff members Suzette Rayome and Rene Chesborough produced over 400 meals comprised of 200 wraps, 150 deli sandwiches and over 50 salads. A bag of potato chips and a bottle of water went with every serving. Mary’s mother Sheila came out of retirement to help. Over 75 pounds of deli ham and turkey were sliced by Mary’s husband Steve for the sandwiches and wraps. The salads featured many kinds of home-made dressings.

“It was so much fun and so good to work with the girls at Community Connections,” said Mary.

All the free meals were served curbside to permit social distancing. The servers wore masks and gloves.

Mary explained that people lined up in their cars in front of the building and were given menus. They selected what they wanted and then the deli staff bagged up the selections and they were served by the Community Connections staff members. The depot placed plenty of coolers curbside to keep everything cold.

The agency has done meal giveaways in both Malone and Potsdam in recent weeks.

“It was a great idea and we were excited to work with them,” Mary said.

“A lot of people wanted to pay but we told them just to pay the kindness forward in the community,” she added.

Mary thought the event proved very helpful to introduce the community to program manager Krista Piasecki and her staff.

A few years ago Krista worked part-time at the local deli.

“A big thanks to them for all they do” at the new satellite office here. Mary said too often there is a stigma when people reach out for help with depression or other illnesses or who are struggling with addiction.

“To have a conversation and take that away” can bring more here to their center for the help they need, Mary figured.

A member of the Community Connections staff, peer advocate specialist Michelle Howland, said Thursday she really enjoyed meeting so many from the community at their event. “I was very excited to be there!”

Over 120 meals were served the first hour, she noted.

Peer advocates are trained to talk with people one on one about their problems and share with them their life experiences. They can refer people who are struggling with mental illnesses to other specialists for more help.

Krista Piasecki described Friday the rational of the event. “During this time of COVID, we thought it would be a great service for the community.”

“We were really pleased how everything turned out. We weren’t sure about how many meals we needed and were very pleased” the last lunches went as the event concluded.

“During this whole COVID thing we haven’t seen that many people at our place, so it was great to be out into the community meeting people.”

Staff member Rachel Stender was also part of the Community Connections serving team that day.

Krista said she would look forward to doing it again. “The people who came out were so wonderful...so thankful! We had senior citizens. We had children; people of all ages.”

She said their lunch customers that day had many questions about “what we do here and we were able to answer their questions,” which was good from a public relations standpoint.

“We want people to know we are here to help in any way we can!”

During the pandemic Krista and her staff have been helping with the local food distribution program and at the local food pantry.

The new facility here features a living room-style drop in center for people to come in a chat with staff members and others. Unfortunately since March that room has been closed, but counseling and other services are still available in the other portion of the building by appointment.