Fall 2022 Messenger

Outreach gracestlukes.org/outreach

Food Pantry is Living Out Its Call to Feed Hungry Neighbors. Come Join the Parties in the Kitchen!

It’s safe to say that COVID-19 changed the way we once worked, played, lived,

and volunteered. Social services like MIFA, the Mid-South Food Bank, and

Church Health have changed their practices and procedures to comply with health department restrictions and other local mandates.

If you have kept up with the evolution of our Food Pantry in the past year, you know that our leaders (Jerry and Amy Hudson) and volunteers of this ministry have shown adaptability and flexibility in their efforts to embrace and implement new ways to continue feeding people in need.

Since October of 2021, Food Pantry volunteers have provided ingredients for Church Health (CH) neighbors to prepare healthy meals at home, following recipes provided by CH. We have shopped, packed, and distributed those healthy ingredients to CH which in turn gives our neighbors the items they need to have nourishing, healthy meals. During this time, CH has monitored this effort, and, because of our great success, we are now embarking on another great way of deepening our food ministry. We will be using our own GSL kitchen and cooking up healthy recipes to freeze for quick, healthy meals. This allows neighbors a faster but still healthy meal option. So, some exciting things are afoot at GSL!

Beginning this fall, come party in the kitchen with us! Cooking Teams (there will be approximately 8-10 teams with 4-6 members on a team) will use the GSL kitchen once a week to prepare healthy recipes. These meals will then be frozen and given to CH neighbors and patients. Team Captains were trained at CH August 10, where they had fun in the kitchens there and learned a lot! (More pictures on page 13.) If you are interested in joining a cooking team, please reach out to Congregational Life Associate/Assistant to the Rector Abby Huber (ahuber@gracestlukes.org) or Jerry Hudson through Realm (tinyurl.com/RealmJerryHudson).

We are grateful for those of you who have been a part of the Food Pantry and we look forward to working together in fun and innovative ways to feed people in need.

–Carol Ann Mallory

The Messenger | Fall 2022 | 6