While people who read the Newton Beacon and who listen to my segments on WBZ/iHeart radio are familiar with the amazing bounty of great food we have in our area, there are many for whom just getting one meal a day is a major undertaking.

According to Feeding America, 804,180 people in Massachusetts (which amounts to one in nine) are facing food insecurity, and many of them live in the areas that might not be expected to have such issues, including Boston and Newton.

Fortunately, Newton is also the home of Jeanie Gruber, a former therapist who has been putting her Louisiana-bred Southern hospitality to good use as the founder and head of WISHDISH (www.thewishdishproject.com).

When she first came to Newton in 1988, Gruber (who is known to her many friends as “Miss Jeanie”) was serving the community as a clinical social worker.

“I had a private practice in the Back Bay and two small children and a husband that worked all the time,” she said.

In an effort to thank other hard-working neighbors, including the staff at her children’s school, Mason-Rice, Gruber began to use her enjoyed cooking moments to make delicious treats for the Teacher Appreciation meals at Mason-Rice.

When possible, Gruber began to read as many cookbooks as she could get her hands on and take adult ed cooking classes. She was particularly inspired by one class taught by Newton neighbor Stephanie Elkind. “At the time Stephanie owned a restaurant, The American Accent,  in Brookline Village that was serving delicious new flavors and spices from North Africa and around the world,” Gruber recalls. “I knew after her class that I must do something more with food!”

“Miss Jeanie” began hosting parties for her family and friends.

“I loved integrating the foods our guests might like and the environment, experiences and themes they were wishing for,” she explains.

Not one to use her psychotherapy “lingo,” she did begin to characterize her parties as coming together with a “gestalt of foods, flavors, design and ambiance.”

Jeanie Gruber, right, and her husband, Jay, left. Courtesy photo

In 1990, Gruber was asked by another friend who had attended and fully enjoyed many of Gruber’s events to cater a board of directors meeting at the Lincoln Public Library.

“I hesitantly accepted,” she recalls. noting that, in addition to preparing the food, she also set the space with such unique items as coordinated pottery and dishes that she had collected from art shows throughout the previous years, as well as “expressive fabrics” overlaying the tablecloths.

“It was actually a success,” she recalls, also recalling how tired but grateful she was for the opportunity. “The next day, the director of the Reading Library asked me to cater a breakfast at her library for her staff, which I did with foods [inspired by] titles of books.”

As word continued to spread, Gruber began to take more and more catering gigs. Ever eager to support others, Gruber hired teachers and after-school teachers from Mason-Rice who were looking for additional money on the weekends.

“They were incredible,” she raves, “and remained part of our team for a long time.”

The new food-focused venture was originally called Southern Comfort Catering Company (a nod to Gruber’s familial and food heritage), but she eventually renamed it Miss Jeanies Catering and Events.

“I continued to cater part-time and run my psychotherapy practice…for quite a few years,” she explains, noting that she was “still loving both.”

Slowly, eventually, however, Gruber began to focus her energies full-time on catering and events management.

In 2019, through what she considers “a moment of luck or faith,” Gruber connected with a homeless project in New Orleans named Grace at the Greenlight.

“I fell in love with the goals, staff and guests,” she maintains.

Created by New Orleans entrepreneur Chris Beary (who is working on bringing a world-class music museum to the Big Easy), Grace at the Greenlight offers neighbors facing food insecurity a full breakfast 365 days a year, as well as other supports. It is a pillar of the food insecurity community.

When Gruber got involved, the one thing they were missing, she recalls, were breakfast pastries.

“So I began to make muffins, coffeecakes and cupcakes,” Gruber explains. “Every time I appeared at 6 AM…the guests waiting in line would call out, ‘Yay! The Muffin Lady is here!’”

The next time Gruber returned to Boston, she found a similar program in Boston’s Back Bay called Common Cathedral, which is run out of the Emmanuel Church on Newbury Street in Boston. It was here during the pandemic that the current form of WISHDISH was born.

“Weekly I would talk with one of the guests…[and] ask them what dish they wished they could eat if they had a stove or a kitchen to cook it in.” While she admits that many guests were reserved and reticent at first, after a few weeks, they came to see Gruber’s sincerity and determination and began to open up to her.

“They began to believe they actually could ask for what they yearned for. Amazingly, for the last six years, this program has continued weekly.

Miss Jeanie recently published The WISHDISH Cookbook, that is based upon her Boston guests’ wished-for dishes. She hopes to sell and share their cookbook in order to raise awareness of their individuality, gourmet food preferences, and the WISHDISH program.

Jeanie Gruber’s new cookbook. Courtesy photo

Now that the Boston book is done, Gruber is working on a New Orleans-inspired volume and hopes that other communities will allow her to grant the wishes of their unhoused and food-insecure neighbors as well.

“We are looking for other projects that would be a good match for WISHDISH,” Gruber explains, noting that there are currently students at USC who are working on finding appropriate partners in the Los Angeles area as part of a Master’s thesis. “We are beyond enthusiastic to create a WISHDISH program soon on the West Coast.

“I believe what distinguishes us from other extraordinary food insecurity initiatives throughout the cities I know of is that we appear to be one of the only projects that take their food options one step further,” she said. “The dignity and the moment of personal control that our guests experience when able to dictate the food they wish for is unique. When tasted, it offers a moment of feeling at home, something familiar, and a dish that is cooked with care and love.”

Gruber’s warmth, style and seemingly endless light and energy have continued to inspire and inform the creation of her new gathering, classes, and event space, Wonder Root Farm in Stow (https://thewonderrootfarm.com). Gruber’s new nonprofit, which is hosted in her renovated farm buildings, cook’s kitchen, gardens, and other magical meeting spots, offers unique spaces for inspirational discussions, ideas, creations, and hands-on, action-based projects and initiatives.  It is the home base of WISHDISH, The Breaking Bread Interfaith Initiative, the Enoughness Project and the Farm Couture and repurposing classes (as well as others to come).

“I am open to ideas!” Gruber smiles, suggesting people contact her via the WISHDISH website or at missjeaniesinc@aol.com.