T-R PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — Jason and Jenny Matteson of Marshalltown and three of their children — Jayda, Mia and Finley — were hard at work preparing a free meal for anyone who stopped by at 608 W. Main St. on Saturday afternoon. Pork burgers, hot dogs, smoked mac and cheese, fresh broccoli and pumpkin and Rice Krispie bars were all on the menu for the inaugural meal.

Jason and Jenny Matteson of Marshalltown have had it in their hearts to do something good for the community for some time now, and they decided to keep it simple while incorporating their love of food.

On Saturday afternoon, despite the wet and gloomy conditions, the Mattesons and three of their children prepared a hearty meal of hot dogs, pork burgers, smoked mac and cheese, fresh broccoli and two different desserts and offered it up to anyone who stopped by their front porch at 608 W. Main St. — completely free of charge.

“We love to cook. We’re just foodie type people, and so it’s just an overflowing from our hearts. We’re the ones that have the big family meals,” Jenny said.

Jenny called their initiative a “continuation” of the nightly dinners offered at the House of Compassion, and they hope to provide a free community meal at least once a month going forward, most likely on Saturdays (Jason does plan to adjust the schedule around other community events to avoid interfering with them). In addition to lending a hand to those struggling with hunger in Marshalltown, the Mattesons also hope that an act like theirs will inspire others to think more about how they can give to the community.

“It’s hard to figure out how to target the people we’re really trying to target, not that we would turn anybody away. Anybody is welcome, but to really get our hands out to the people who need it the most is important to us,” Jason said.

As Jenny recalled, the family recently spent “a bunch of money” to go on an expensive vacation, and she didn’t find the experience all that rewarding in the end. Doing something for people who may not ever be able to pay them back, on the other hand, never goes out of style.

With the inclement weather on Saturday, the Mattesons didn’t get a huge initial turnout right at noon — information was shared to the Marshall County Outreach Facebook page ahead of time — but they’re confident that as word of mouth begins to spread, more people will become aware of the meals.

“We talked about that, knowing it might take a little bit of time to get the word out there (and) gain people’s trust that hey, this is a good thing and legitimate,” Jason said.

If the initiative takes off, Jason also envisions gathering toiletry items for donation, but for now, he and Jenny are taking it one step at a time.

“We didn’t want it to make it complicated when we needed to keep it simple,” Jenny said.

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Contact Robert Maharry at 641-753-6611 ext. 255 or rmaharry@timesrepublican.com.