On Wednesday the church of First Presbyterian Andalusia is celebrating its 10th anniversary serving hot, nutritious food to the community through their Love Thy Neighbor Lunch program.
Volunteers will serve lunch in the church from 11:00 a.m. and continue until all meals are finished and Roger Powell, one of the volunteers, said does not take too long.
“It just takes a few minutes and we generally offer about 180 food items,” Powell said.
Monthly Love They Neighbor Lunch, as well as a free monthly breakfast, have been a major source of income for the Presbyterian congregation as a way of giving back to the community.
“We’ve had this practice for a decade and have not missed any meal. We used to have it in the dining room, but after the COVID pandemic, we changed to a drive-through model. There are some who stroll or ride their bicycle up to get their meals,” Powell said.
Lunches are served on every Wednesday, and breakfasts are served every Saturday. A group of volunteers utilize the church’s commercial grade kitchen to cook hot, nutritious meals. The volunteers begin their work prior to the scheduled time so that food is prepared in time. The volunteers also ensure the homebound residents get a nutritious meal.
The first program started at a time that the church was not led by any pastors and there is a sense of pride this is a mission run by the congregation.
“For several years, there was talk of setting up an auxiliary kitchen. Despite the fact that we did not have any pastors at the time, the members of the church believed that we needed to provide something of a service towards the local community. We believed that was the Christian way to go about it,” Powell said.
The initial coordinators of the program that provided free meals sought advice via one of the neighbouring churches -the St. Mary’s Episcopal Church — which had started their programme of rice and beans that continues to this day.
“They have been serving their rice and beans meals for a longer time than we have and when we first started, we talking to them, they helped us set the course for us. We coordinated the timing together with them to ensure that the two programs be in sync with each other with respect to scheduling,” he said.
The cooperation aspect is a different aspect of the program since the volunteers are often church members from other congregations.
The program for meals is made created by the generosity of the congregation’s volunteers and donations, as per Powell.
“The meals are absolutely free. There aren’t any fees and there are no requirements. The church’s members pay for the program in addition to contributions by local clubs as well as other groups. We’ve seen some changes throughout the years and played around with various ideas but the main thing is served hot meals prepared on the spot by our volunteers” said the pastor.
Powell explained to she believes that Love Thy Neighbor meals program is a love-filled project for the volunteers and church.
“It has a significant impact on our church, possibly more than the guests who are served meals. We believe it’s an excellent way to give back to our community and gives us the church with an opportunity to build stronger connections and bonds. A lot members of the church have served from the very beginning.” the pastor said.
The Love Thy Neighbor Lunch program will begin serving lunches at 11 a.m. on the 26th of April on Wednesday. Each participant receives an assortment of two plates and dessert during the time that meals are served.
Rev. Tim Trent currently serves as the interim pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Andalusia.
The article dinner program at Presbyterian reaches a landmark was first published in The Andalusia Star-News.
