WELCOME NEIGHBOR STL
Volunteers deliver food to a car during a previous Drive-Thru Supper Club event.
Welcome Neighbor STL has hosted its Drive-Thru Supper Club since World Refugee Day in 2020, according to founder and executive director Jessica Bueler. For each event, refugees create a homecooked meal for people to pick up.
This upcoming Saturday, however, the carryout boxes will be filled with a little extra love. The Syrian Drive-Thru Supper Club, held on Feb. 12 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at 408 N. Sarah Street, will feature a menu of traditional Syrian fare prepared by refugees, as well as a handmade Valentine’s Day card from one of the refugee’s family members.
The cards are being made primarily by Khawla Alzlouf’s fifth-grade daughter, Haneen Alrefai, according to Madeleine Grucza of Welcome Neighbor STL. Alzlouf is one of the two refugees cooking at the event and, according to Bueler, has had a cooking license through Welcome Neighbor STL since 2018.
WELCOME NEIGHBOR STL
Khawla Alzlouf sits with her family for a photograph. Alzlouf' daughter is making Valentine's Day Cards to include in the upcoming Drive-Thru Supper Club event.
“Madeleine told my mom that it would be a great idea to make Valentine's cards for those people that are going to come. And my mom thought that would be a great idea to tell people how much we love them,” Alrefai said.
Bueler says she learned of the idea to include the cards from Alzlouf. She says the refugees know trying new things will bring new people to Supper Club events, which serve as a financial and social lifeline to their families as they acclimate to their new town. And with Valentine’s Day coming, Bueler says Alzlouf got her kids involved.
“I think the mom was like, ‘Okay, I have an idea. You guys should make Valentine's for the people for the drive thru,’ and the kids are like, ‘Yay, let's do it,’” Bueler says. “So, I think that they're already ready to go. I just thought that was like the coolest thing ever.”
Along with the cards, Bueler says the menu for the upcoming Supper Club is unique compared to other events. She says most of the time, meals consist of five dishes and cost $25.
Bueler says the cooks for this Supper Club event decided to prepare six dishes, which sell for $30. These include salad, malfouf, grilled chicken, beans, rice vermicelli and baklava.
“I was a little bit nervous because sometimes we do them for $30, but not very often. But I think that with the six items they picked, people are going to love it,” She says.
Baklava is the only dish Welcome Neighbor STL serves regularly at Supper Clubs, Bueler says, underscoring the unique nature of this event.
“So, I think that might be an attraction too - that people are like, ‘Oh, What's this grilled chicken going to be?’” Bueler explains.
The Drive-Thru Supper Club started with 150 tickets. As of Feb. 8, Welcome Neighbor STL's website shows that 13 tickets remain. Each ticket covers a meal for one person, but Bueler says the portion sizes for each ticket are large.
She says normally Welcome Neighbor STL has groups of two or three purchase tickets for Supper Club events. This time, she says the organization is seeing groups of six or more place orders.
“I thought that that's kind of cool. Just to celebrate this Valentine's Day, and our Valentine's Day dinner [means] we have a bunch of people that are celebrating it together. So that's really neat,” Bueler says.
