Juniper’s Fare carries on its mission of serving community

A decade ago, the Rev. Paul Stewart, from the Church of the Crucified One in Moretown, decided to create a catering company called Juniper’s Fare.

It was named after Friar Juniper, servant of God and a friar who gave to the poor, and Stewart made it the company’s mission to carry on the friar’s duty.

And for half of the company’s existence, that mission has included serving the nation’s troops.

Juniper’s Fare started out catering weddings and special events, making enough money to be able to donate dinners to nonprofits, and the greater community.

The company puts on fundraising dinners for organizations such as Wesley United Methodist Church in Waterbury, People’s Health and Wellness Clinic in Barre, and Everyone’s Child in Vermont and Kenya.

It also tries to make a lasagna dinner for the community at large at least once a month.

Stewart later created a café, and then a creemee stand to serve up delectable food and soft-serve ice cream.

After Tropical Storm Irene devastated the area in 2011, Juniper’s returned to just catering, but was able to bring the creemee stand back a few years ago.

“We don’t make a lot of money at it,” Stewart said. “But we keep the creemee stand as a service to the community.”

What Juniper’s has been able to provide less and less over the last half-decade is catering service to many of the smaller, 20-30 person, events in and around the area.

It just doesn’t have the time.

When they’re not directly serving the community they live and work in, Juniper’s caterers are behind the scenes catering to those who serve the nation.

“Somehow, our caterers got connected with the main (Vermont National Guard) office in Colchester, and were asked to be a vendor,” Stewart said.

Since 2012, Juniper’s Fare has been supplying home-cooked comfort food to the U.S. Army Mountain Warfare School in Jericho.

“We also supply some of the (regional training institutes) and Camp Johnson in Colchester,” said Stewart.

The Army Mountain Warfare School provides tactical and technical training for mountain warfare and cold-weather operations.

The Vermont Army National Guard’s 124th Regiment Schoolhouse regional training institute conducts a wide range of classes throughout the year. Most of the training is highly structured and time-sensitive, and some courses have only limited training days and so are high-intensity.

The catering menu is designed to support that level training, and Stewart and his crew serve home-cooked meals — comfort food — every day during training to soldiers from all over the United States.

In the last half-decade, Juniper’s Fare has served thousands of soldiers.

“We see it as our mission to serve food to the people who serve us,” Stewart said. “It’s a privilege and also a great way to get to know the men and women in uniform, and participate in their services.”

Stewart admires the camaraderie, decency and absolute respect the soldiers have toward each other and their superiors.

And in 2014, the National Guard returned the favor. At the warfare school, Juniper’s Fare was awarded T-shirts and a commander’s coin — usually presented in recognition of special achievement to a member of the unit — for the quality of its food and the causes it supports.

The soldiers were excited to have a catering company that not only served to their standards — it’s important that the soldiers can get into the mess hall, eat, and get back out there to train with full stomachs and the strength to perform — but also served others in the community with the proceeds.

For the next three years, including this year, Juniper’s Fare was invited back as a vendor.

Juniper’s Fare is contracted with the National Guard, and is therefore paid for its services, but most of any profit goes to nonprofit organizations in the community.