81,500 Meals and $9,000 a Week: Bermuda’s Cathedral Pauses Its Food Programme to Rebuild Its Hall Kitchen

• The Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity in Hamilton paused its meals programme in February 2024
• It had been serving 130 to 150 people a day at a cost of about $9,000 a week
• The cathedral planned to renovate its hall kitchen to cook on site and offer sit-down meals
• Bishop Nicholas Dill said volunteers needed a break and funding was increasingly hard

A large church feeding programme in Bermuda has paused while its kitchen is rebuilt. The Royal Gazette reported on 12 March 2024 that the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity in Hamilton had suspended its meals programme on 16 February, and planned to renovate its hall kitchen.

The programme had grown during the Covid lockdown from twice-weekly breakfasts to seven days a week, and had since run on weekdays, serving 130 to 150 people a day. It had prepared about 81,500 meals in total, including roughly 36,400 in the final year, with 3,830 volunteer contributions over that year. The cost was about $9,000 a week, or $9 a meal.

Bishop Nicholas Dill explained the pause. “We have had some amazing donors and dedicated volunteers, but having just finished another push for funds over Christmas we are back to another push, which is increasingly difficult,” he said. “Our volunteers have been at this five days a week since Covid and needed a break.”

The building work is central to the plan. “Also, and equally important, we are due to start renovations on the cathedral hall kitchen to do our own on-site cooking,” the bishop said. The renovation, which was in the final stages of planning approval, would let the church invite people in to sit and eat rather than offering takeaway. “When we do reopen, we will be looking for ongoing sponsorship,” he added. No renovation cost was given.

The story shows how a church’s buildings shape its ministry. A proper kitchen and dining hall turn a takeaway service into a place where people can sit together.

Many Jamaican churches run feeding programmes from halls and kitchens that were never designed for daily use. The Bermuda experience suggests investing in the facility itself, with commercial-grade kitchens, storage and seating, alongside securing steady sponsorship rather than relying on repeated appeals. Diaspora congregations looking for a practical project could help fund such kitchen upgrades at home.

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