Community Meal

Community Meal Newsletter

It’s the beginning of another year and we are so thankful for all of our guests at our meals. It has been our pleasure serving you and getting to know you over the last year. It is time for us to make some changes to our program which I would like to outline below.

1. We will open the doors of the hall at 3:00. Dinner will be served starting at 3:30-3:45 depending upon when it is ready. Please come in and enjoy a time of visiting with your friends and neighbors. We will have the drinks ready for you.
2. We will serve meals up through 5:20 at which time we will start to clean up so that we can end around 5:30.
3. We will continue to get bread and other items. We ask that you take what you need remembering that there are others who need these items as well.
4. We will continue our Because We Care Program. The form to be completed, will be in the back of the hall on a table. You should complete the form and put it in the donation box on your way out. The request will be filled and available the next week at the meal. A bag with your name will be on the small table in the back of the hall. Please remember this program is only for those who come to the meal and be used once per month.
5. We will no longer be serving to goes except in very restricted circumstances. There will no longer be any drive up and get to goes or pre-ordering of to goes. A To go will be available if someone who normally comes to the meal, is not able to come due to health or other issues. Please see the cook about getting a to go.

I’d like to explain a little about why we are eliminating to goes. When we set up the meal, over 10 years ago, the purpose of the meal was to provide an opportunity for food and fellowship. Unfortunately Covid, really put a damper on that and most of our meals during that period was served to go style. Now that things are more normal, we want to return to our goal of serving food and fellowship for our guests. Right now we serve as many to goes as we do in person meals. This was never our intent and makes it very difficult for us to serve our guests that are eating in our hall with the service and attention we would like to. Additionally, the cost of to go containers has skyrocketed and our program needs our money to purchase food and supplies that allow us to put out good, healthy meals. The last reason is food safety. We know that we are keeping our food hot or cold but once it leaves the building, we do not know how long someone is keeping the food and whether it is at a safe temperature. While I realize that this is going to impact people who come and get a to go without eating in, we hope that the majority of our guests will enjoy coming in to our hall and sharing fellowship with the other guests at the meal.

This change will take place as of March 1, 2024. We appreciate your cooperation as we move forward into the new year.