The Food Ministry Reflects on the Past Year

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by Christine Piatek, Food Ministry Team

UUCWC’s Food Ministry (FM) had a busy 2023. Things are not fully back to pre-pandemic times; still, we were able to provide cooked meals and prepared sandwiches as well as donations of money and shelf-stable pantry items. FM’s work last year included cooking/preparing:

  • 120 meals over three months for Luther Arms Senior Housing in Trenton;
  • sandwich meal bags for HomeFront’s Monday night tutoring program;
  • snack bags for HomeFront in March (with assistance from our children);
  • monthly sandwich meal bags for the HomeFront Tuesday night Hopes and Dreams program; and
  • a pasta and meatball meal for one Wacky Wednesday session over the summer.

FM made donations of shelf stable food items to the Interfaith Food Alliance’s (IFA) Family Backpack Center Food Pantry in Morrisville, PA, and to the Morrisville Presbyterian Church Food Center. We also collaborated with the Social Justice Ministry and the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton to prepare meals for Loaves and Fishes in March, and cooked eighty pounds of chicken for the sit-down lunch served at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Trenton.

Lastly, FM sponsored a successful chili fundraiser for the IFA on the day of the South Philly Jazz Band concert, December 17. The event served both to raise funds for the IFA and to provide a welcome time of fellowship and a meal after the Sunday service and before the concert. The event and enthusiastic participation by UUCWC members and friends allowed FM to donate $276 to the IFA. Our Council for Faith in Action’s Faith Expression Funding Team matched this amount for a total donation of $552.

We met for our second annual retreat on January 9th to reflect on past years of service and to plan for the coming year.

Coming up in February 2024, FM will sponsor a food drive for shelf-stable items for HomeFront. Donations will be received on February 10, 11 and 18 and those wishing to donate may sign up here.

Just around the corner in March is this year’s Loaves and Fishes, our annual joint effort with the Social Justice Ministry and our sister congregation in Princeton. Look for information soon about how to assist with this event. Among other continuing projects, FM will provide sandwich meal bags for Monday night HomeFront tutoring in April.

The FM is grateful for UUCWC’s continued support.