Senior Profile: The Dinner Bell in 2005
On Friday, June 3, 2005, the late John Ruscica rang the dinner bell in Fellowship Hall for the first time. The Shelter Island Nutrition Program under the leadership of Karin Bennett had renamed its Monday and Friday congregate meals “The Dinner Bell” to reflect the change in atmosphere and style that had occurred since Karin was appointed site manager by the Town Board in 2003.
With the help of the Shelter Island Reporter’s Community News Editor Archer Brown; staff photographer Bev Walz; two accomplished and creative cooks, Angela Corbett and Alan Krauss; and a dedicated volunteer staff, not only has the attendance increased significantly, but the old perception of the congregate meal as a kind of soup kitchen for the Island’s indigent elderly has finally faded away.
The Reporter agreed to print the menus for the Dinner Bell weekly and to publish a portrait by Bev and a profile of a patron each Thursday.
Joan and Ralph Bishop were the first patrons to be photographed and profiled, in the June 2, 2005 issue of the Reporter. In that profile Joan reflected that the Dinner Bell meant “good friends and good food” to her and Ralph, and she saluted Karin Bennett as the “driving force for excellence.”
Six years later, Dinner Bell patrons, for a $3 donation, continue to enjoy the best lunch in town.
