Community
Café
Sundays at 4:30 p.m.
Free Food, Music, prayer and short real life message!
This service begins with a free dinner every Sunday
night. The doors open
between 4:15 and 4:30 p.m. and we request you enter through the 12th
Street entrance. Live music
will be offered at 4:30 p.m. while you eat, and will be followed with a
brief message. End your afternoon with good food, live music, and an
inspiring message.
Join the Community Cafe Team!
We currently have nine teams
who prepare dinners on a rotation basis. Every week one of the groups in
the rotation will prepare a meal for between 75-100 guests.
Stats and other information about Community
Cafe
First
United
Methodist
Church
began having a Sunday meal for the hungry and lonely in October 2004. We
have never missed serving a meal on Sunday evening at 4:30 p.m., even
when there was no heat or water at the church. In addition to the meal,
there is dinner music, a vesper service, a sack of groceries for each
guest and carry-out meals.
Because we have just finished our second calendar
year of operation, it seems appropriate to review where we are and where
we have been:
ð Meals
served in the first27 months ~ 11,101
ð Meals
served in 2006 ~5,724
ð Cost of
groceries handed out in 2006 ~ $571
ð Average
cost of a meal served in 2006 ~ $ 0.65
ð Total
expenditures for food, equipment, supplies in the first 27 months of
operations ~ $10,247.77
ð Total
expenditures for food and supplies in 2006 ~ $ 4,288.21
ð Donations
from the congregation in the first 27 mo. ~ $ 6,886.05
ð
Donations from the congregation in
2006 ~ $ 1,418.00
There has been a lot of volunteers involved in many
aspects of the ministry thus far. We could use more volunteers. We would
also like to see more of the congregation attending the meal and
providing fellowship and welcome to the guests.
Posted: February 2007
Community Café Celebrates Second Year In Ministry
September
was the twenty-fourth month for serving free meals to the community on
Sunday nights as part of our Community Café. So it is fitting we
celebrate the two-year anniversary. In the past two years 9,470 meals
have been served. In March we started giving a bag of groceries to each
dinner guest to take home. Our dinner pantry also supplies food for the
pantry shelving on the first floor next to the conference room. There
are over 100 people who serve on the nine meal teams, plus several on
the procurement team. Frank Atteberry, Gary Wade and Steve Bruce build,
paint and help us stock the shelves. Mike Nicholson and Steve Thomas
line up local artists who share their talents and love for Christ with
others every Sunday evening. The ministerial staff provide service and
spiritual guidance. As Jim Durante used to say, “Everyone wants to get
in on the act” ~ and isn’t that great. This ministry has also been
blessed by constant generous gifts. It is not possible to gauge the
impact we have on lives, but this is a caring link of Christ’s church to
the community. The teams have experienced attrition and seasonal
staffing problems. Contact Bill Roesch at 649-3076 if you want to join a
team, or be a substitute (or just visit the operation.)
Posted:
October 2006
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