0916 Lowell COB
    Food and fellowship equally meaningful for visitors and church members alike.

The New Carlisle Church of the Brethren resumed its weekly community meals Wednesday, September 16, hosting around 40 people for a free hot meal and dessert.

The church has been holding the free weekly meals for ten years now, and organizers said they served approximately 65 people per night last year.  The dinners generally stop from July to August, but resume during the first part of September.

Pastor Andrew Wright said the community meal resumed a little late this year due to the church installing new flooring in the basement where the dinners are held.  Wright said life at the church was great right now, noting that he always meets “the most fascinating people at these meals.”

John Krabacher put his culinary skills to good use as he prepared the spaghetti sauce for Wednesday night’s meal.  He said the food for the community meals is donated by Gospel Mission in Dayton, a shelter and food pantry that accepts men and women of all faiths who have fallen on hard times.  Krabacher said Gospel Vision provides so much food that the church divides it among the weekly community meals, Bethel Churches United’s food pantry, and a few other community members who benefit from the regular deliveries.  He added that Pizza Hut and Olive Garden also supply food from their stores regularly, along with shipments from Miami Valley Hospital.  He said that the donations make it possible to hold the weekly meals, as it would be too costly for the church to fund the meals itself.  Wednesday night’s meal consisted of potato soup, deluxe pizza, spaghetti, and salad, along with cupcakes and assorted fritters for dessert. 

Nearly one dozen members of New Carlisle Rotary served the dinner as well as cleaning up afterwards by doing dishes and cleaning up the kitchen.  Bob Holder, President of New  Carlisle Rotary, looked up from a sink-full of dishes, just long enough to say that it was a wonderful experience to be assisting for the evening.

Sue Buckles, a lifelong member of the church, has organized the weekly dinners each year since the beginning, saying that the events began as an “experiment” during Lent after welcoming a speaker who delivered a sermon on hospitality.

“Ten years later, and our little experiment is still going strong,” Buckles said.

When asked what she believed to be the biggest draw for the meals each week, she said she believed it to be a combination of fellowship and the meal itself.

“It’s definitely both…there are as many people here for the fellowship as the food,” she said. “That’s the thing about these—anyone from the community is welcome.”

Buckles said she approached the New Carlisle Rotary last spring about volunteering to work the dinners, and local Rotarians spent their first evening serving and washing at the church on Wednesday evening.  “They sent me about twice as many people as we needed, but that’s perfectly fine,” Buckles said, clearly pleased with Rotary’s amount of support.

New Carlisle Rotary, along with members of the Western Clark County Business Coalition, Lake Avenue Church, and New Carlisle Church of the Brethren rotate weekly to work the dinners.

“God said—Jesus said---‘feed my sheep,’” Buckles said. “This is one way for us to do that literally and figuratively.”

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