WAPPINGERS FALLS—In these tough economic times, it’s nice to relax over a homemade meal and chat with friends and new acquaintances and Zion Episcopal Church in Wappingers Falls provides an opportunity to do just that on the first Friday of every month.

The First Friday community dinners have been running for about eight years, one year less than the active Zion food pantry, of which they are an off-shoot. Once a month, pantry organizers Joe Porpora and Jack Devine don aprons, take to the commercial kitchen in the Zion parish hall, and cook up a feast for anyone who wishes to attend.

What’s more, the dinner is free.

“If you’re a person who needs food, you’re invited to dinner. If you’re a person who has food, you’re invited to bring food,” Porpora said. Residents who can afford to are asked to bring a bag of groceries for the food pantry as the “price” of their dinner.

When Porpora and Devine first conceived of the idea of a monthly home-cooked meal, they envisioned something other than a meal that was only for those in need.

“We didn’t want a New York City soup-kitchen,” Porpora said.

Instead, the two men created the community dinner, which draws residents from all walks of life. In fact, Porpora said, there are as many people who attend for the fun, socialization, and a nice meal as there are residents in need. And best of all, no one knows the difference.

“Nobody knows who’s from the community and who’s a food pantry client,” Porpora said. “I like that. That feels very good.”

One thing that’s certain is that residents who come to the dinner leave satisfied. In Zion’s kitchen, which was fitted out years ago with commercial cooking equipment from a defunct restaurant, Porpora and Devine, with help from a group of dedicated volunteers, prepare a variety of mouth-watering meals over the course of a year. Pasta – “real Godfather food,” Porpora says – is often on the menu, and so are the likes of meatloaf, turkey tetrazzini, and, in the late spring, hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill.

“The two of them make wonders of the stuff,” said Mary Porpora of her husband and Devine.

The May dinner, held last Friday, consisted of two kinds of baked chicken breasts, homemade macaroni and cheese, salad, bread, beverages, and fudge brownies. Those who attend the first Friday meals are served by volunteers at tables set with colorful tablecloths and flowers.

In fact, the dinners are a real community effort on every level. Last Friday’s chicken came in frozen blocks of about 100 pounds each, was a “freebie” that Devine picked up during one of his twice monthly trips to the Regional Food Bank of the Hudson Valley. The ham in the macaroni and cheese was left over from an earlier donation from Hannaford, which Devine said has been “amazing” in its support of the food pantry. And the take-home containers were donated by Longobardi’s restaurant.

In addition, there are a lot of hands to make light work. Volunteer Carole Dinonno comes in every month without fail to make the salad, while Janet Versace cleans the pots and pans. There’s even a student volunteer earning community service credit, Roy C. Ketcham High School senior Stephanie Platt.

And when the dinner is over and residents have been sent home with leftovers, whatever remains is put to good use, too. It’s packaged up and given out at the food pantry, which is feeding nearly double the number of residents it previously did.

“Nothing gets wasted, that’s for sure,” Porpora said.

Any resident who wishes to attend the dinner is invited to come to the parish hall between six and 6:30 on the first Friday of the every month except July and August. And though Porpora prepares the meals wearing an apron bearing the question “Have you hugged an Episcopalian today?,” Mary Porpora points out that the dinner is not about residents’ beliefs.

“It’s just a good time,” she said.