Within the Spirit of Christ's hospitality, The Gathering Place provides meals without cost, served with dignity and compassion to anyone who is in need and/or is interested in building healthy relationships and connections with the people in our community.
Gathering Place Mission Statement
Next week the steering committee for the Gathering Place community meal will meet here at St. Paul's to ponder our first seven dinners since beginning last December. It took a while to get up to speed, but the Friday evening meals in April, May, and June fed over a hundred people each time. Always the guests are effusive in their thanks and they pack away the food.
The day of the most recent meal I met a fellow on the street who has assured me for months that he was coming, only to be a no-show. He told me again that he would be there with friends. Sure enough, this time he came and afterward enthused about how great it was to have a setting where he could sit and visit in a way he can't in his rooming house.
This time Steve and Jim, St. Paul's members who are also part of the Lions Club brought their whopping big barbecue and cooked up all we needed and more to go with the salads. The teen mothers of a new local program to complete high school education made the dessert, as they did last month. Rekker's Nursery provided plants as gifts for our faithful volunteers. I am regularly struck by the kindness and generosity of so many people, along with the gratitude of those who attend. God is good, and so are people!
This is really an update, but comments are welcome.
I'm glad it went well.
ReplyDeleteI am so impressed with the collective efforts of the volunteers (and the churches they represent) but also with the young moms, the Lions boys and others. It's amazing, frankly, and I hope everyone who volunteers leaves each night with the good feeling that comes with knowing they've helped.
If you need help of the musical variety or otherwise down the road, please let me know. I'd be honoured to help and be a part of such a team.