FILE: People stand in line for a hot meal at the Family Kitchen in Bend. 

Family Kitchen, a Bend-based nonprofit dedicated to providing meals throughout Central Oregon, expanded its operations into Redmond and is seeking volunteers to help with preparation and cleanup.

The nonprofit is sponsored by Trinity Episcopal Church. Already it serves tens of thousands of meals across Central Oregon every night. The new Redmond operation will operate out of Mountain View Fellowship Church at 1475 SW 35th Street, the organization said.

Tori Tremble, volunteer coordinator for Family Kitchen, said the organization is looking for two volunteers to work Monday-Thursday from 2 to 4:30 p.m., and four volunteers to work from 2-4:30 p.m. on Fridays. Volunteers will be in charge of preparing meal boxes, cleaning up and washing dishes, Tremble said.

Tremble said Family Kitchen is expanding because of the growing need for meals in Redmond. For the time being, it will prepare the meals at Mountain View and then distribute them to partner organizations locally including the Redmond Collective Action Group, which already works with Family Kitchen in Bend to distribute meals to folks in Redmond once a week.

Those partner organizations will then deliver the meals to a list of residents in need.

“We are starting out pretty small,” Tremble said. “We will be doing about 50 meals each night, but I anticipate that there will be a lot of growth upcoming, both in the amount of meals that we serve and the serving that we do. It would be great to have a dining room eventually … in Bend we serve on average 400 meals each dinner.”

Those interested in signing up to volunteer are urged to reach out to Tremble by emailing tori@familykitchen.org or calling 631-942-3528.

“We are hoping to get a lot more people drummed up and looking to volunteer,” Tremble said. “Now that the holidays are wrapping up, maybe some people from different churches will be in to serve, and maybe some organizations like Kiwanis Club and the Moose Lodge.”