by Christine Piatek, Food Ministry Team
Since the start of the pandemic, UUCWC’s Food Ministry (FM) has been periodically providing ready-assembled meals to Luther Arms Apartments, an affordable housing complex for seniors in downtown Trenton. On October 7th, a number of our members met with Rebecca James, Luther Arms’ Resident Service Coordinator, to take a tour of the building’s kitchen and dining area, and to discuss how FM might better serve the Luther Arms community as we continue to emerge from the Covid pandemic. On Wednesday, October 26th, FM members made a delivery of a hot cooked entrée, salad and dessert for that day’s lunch and another entrée for storage for later use. Presently, twenty-one Luther Arms residents are served meals three times a week; the number can increase as all residents are welcome to sign up for meals. The Luther Arms community was pleased to receive the hot lunch and FM members were happy to be back in our church kitchen to cook and prepare meals. This will now be a monthly commitment for as long as the kitchen is open during the Capital Campaign construction.
On October 11th, we held our first annual retreat. The four-hour meeting provided time to reflect on and review FM’s mission statement, covenant and five year plan. The group shared why this ministry’s work is important to each of us. There is something about bonding over lunch that is both celebratory and affirming of the work that has been done and continues to be needed.
As the FM team looks forward to working in the kitchen to prepare hot meals for Luther Arms and other constituent organizations, there is need for one or two more chefs to help Mike Muccioli and/or to sub when Mike is unable to be in the kitchen. If cooking is your passion and you have time in the mornings on the fourth Wednesday of each month, this is when team members will be cooking with immediate delivery to the recipients in time for lunch. Please reach out to Mike (contact information is in the church directory) or to foodministry@uucwc.org.
The FM team is grateful for the generous donations to the HomeFront Halloween Appeal that ended last week. The items collected will be delivered to HomeFront for their preparations for Thanksgiving Day meals.