Imagine it is the end of a long day. You are tired and hungry. Your kids and spouse look to you with eager and hopeful eyes as they ask with great anticipation, "What's for dinner?" Providing an answer to this seemingly simple question, a task hard enough when life is normal, becomes an overwhelming burden when one is dealing with the added stress of an illness, a new baby, or a death in the family.
The meals ministries of Parkside Church seek to help lighten the load among the congregation by serving meals to those in need. Through three different ministries, Funeral, New Baby, and Samaritan, the people of Parkside take care of each other during life's more challenging times.
Food Says, "I Care"
It is often difficult to know what to say when someone dies, and food is a way to say, "I care." Parkside's Funeral Meals Ministry provides a complete meal for the family, and in this way "helps the family start their healing process by providing this meal for them," explains Kim Jones, coordinator for the Funeral Meals Ministry. "Usually you don't get any notice when a loved one dies. And the last thing they want to think about is providing food when they've got so much else on their mind. They don't have to worry about anything. They just come to Fellowship Hall after the service or burial." The ministry is set up to serve about 75 people, but they also provide food for smaller gatherings that occur in people's homes. "For people having smaller gatherings, like 25-35 people, I have the volunteers bring the food to my house and then I deliver it to the family. Then, all they have to do is heat up the food and they're set to go," says Kim.
A Table for 75, Please
So how does the Funeral Meals Ministry prepare for upwards of 75 guests with only a few days notice? "I get a call from the church and then I contact the family to gather all of the pertinent information," says Kim. "Then I contact my team leaders and they get their teams of volunteers together by sending out a broadcast email explaining what is needed, for example, seven casseroles, seven salads, two Jell-o's, and eight dozen cookies. We tell them a date and time for delivery, and boom, within 24 hours we've got our volunteers responding," beams Kim. "It's so cool. I don't have to turn anybody down who wants this. Right now, I have 50 ladies to pull from and four or five ladies who come in to serve the food to the family."
A Well-oiled Machine
All three ministries organize their volunteers similarly. A request comes in, an email goes out, and the volunteers sign up. The New Baby Ministry is slightly different in that it has several teams of volunteers, but they are broken up into geographical regions. "Some teams are a little lower in numbers, so if [the area] has had a lot of babies, sometimes we bring a another team to back them up," explains Linda Staker, coordinator for the New Baby Meals Ministry which serves six meals over a two week span. Volunteers are asked to prepare one complete meal (a protein, a vegetable or salad, a bread or pasta, and dessert) and deliver it to the family. Volunteers are also advised to make only one meal a month to help keep their commitment to the ministry manageable.
Babies Get All The Attention
New additions to a family bring joyful times, but they can also bring a great deal of stress as the family adjusts to the new member. "Having a new baby, sometimes with other small children in the family, and trying to get meals on the table is a really hard thing to do," explains Linda. "Sometimes I meet moms when I deliver meals and they just seem overwhelmed. It's nice to be able to tell them, 'Hey, I've been there and I understand.' To me, that's what's special about this ministry. It wasn't something that was available when my kids were small, so I thought it was a neat way to serve new moms." Linda started as a volunteer 15 years ago, has also served as a team leader, and is now the ministry's acting coordinator.
That's Life
The Samaritan Meals Ministry helps to ease the other burdens in life that occur between the welcoming of a new child and the death of a loved one. "We recognized that in a church this size there are a lot of things that happen between births and funerals that people might need meals for," notes Anne Tumulty, coordinator for the Samaritan Meals Ministry which serves people who are dealing with long-term illnesses. The Samaritan group, born out of the experience of the New Baby Ministry, "realized that some new moms were on prolonged bed rest and had toddlers running around," explains Anne. "They really needed more meals than what the New Baby Ministry was set up for."
The Same but Different
Like the other two meals ministries, Samaritan Meals also relies upon a set of dedicated volunteers; however, because of the scope of their service, team leaders will first contact members of the church with whom the family in need might already have relationships. For example, members of a Sunday school class or other service ministry will be offered the opportunity to serve. While these individuals might not feel called to sign up for the meals ministry, they might be willing to prepare a meal for a friend in need. "We've served families anywhere from a week to six months, from three or four meals to over 100," notes Anne. "We're set up for the long haul, so if we had just one single list of volunteers we understood that we would burn out quickly if that's all we relied on."
Creative Solutions
Anne has faced a few challenges in her time as coordinator of the Samaritan Meals Ministry. "One time we had a family in Pennsylvania in need. They come to church every Sunday, but they're in Pennsylvania, and this was during the peak of the $4.00 gas prices. It's a four hour drive round trip to deliver a meal." Anne asked herself, "How can I ask somebody to do something I'm not willing to do myself?"
Anne prayed and asked God for help. "I couldn't think of even one person to call. So I called the church and had them do a zip code search for the area. They came up with a family who actually lived pretty close to this family." Anne explained her situation to the neighboring family and waited for them to think about it. It turned out that the neighboring family knew a local caterer whose daughter was suffering from the same affliction as the family needing assistance. The dietary restrictions were very unique, but because the caterer's family was dealing with the same situation, they knew what to do and offered to provide three week's worth of meals.
Being Served
Last year, Parkside member Tracy Villers was coping with her third bout of Hodgkin's lymphoma. Still reeling from the repercussions of the second occurrence of cancer, the Villers family needed some support. Tracy remembers what a blessing it was to have the Samaritan meals delivered to her family when she was undergoing daily chemotherapy treatments. "We often received more food than we could eat," recalls Tracy. "People were so gracious in trying to accommodate our dietary preferences and went above and beyond by bringing cards, flowers, books, and even magazines." Tracy notes that there were many times when she was completely knocked out by the debilitating effects of the chemotherapy, "but knowing that my family was being taken care of was a great comfort."
Tracy is currently cancer-free and goes in for a checkup in March. She now prepares meals for the Samaritan Meals Ministry and has the advantage of knowing what to prepare. "I recently took a meal of beef enchiladas to a family knowing that that meal isn't something I would have wanted to eat during chemo treatments. But I also made macaroni and cheese for the person who is sick because that is something that is usually well-tolerated, even though it doesn't really 'go with' enchiladas," laughs Tracy.
The Hands and Feet of Christ
By bringing meals to those in need, volunteers of the meals ministries are acting as the hands and feet of Christ serving God's family. "We're the body of Christ in action," says Kim.
Anne echoes that sentiment, "We are providing a tangible show of God's love to that person in their time of need. It's a small thing, and yet we know it's appreciated." Even if you don't cook, there are ways to serve. Recently, a volunteer signed up for the Samaritan Meals Ministry, but did not realize it involved preparing a meal. The volunteer, a local fireman who is often out and about, offered to deliver meals instead. "There are times when we have someone call us who can make a meal, but they can't deliver it. We do occasionally have a need for someone to go pick up a meal and deliver it," says Anne.
"Parkside is so big," adds Linda. "Being able to say hello to a new family I've just delivered a meal to, and being able to say, 'How are you doing? How's that little baby doing?' I just think that's a neat way that we make a big church smaller."
If you would like to serve with any of the meals ministries, please contact Leanne Popeko at (440) 543-1212 or by email at lpopeko@parksidechurch.com.
Text and photos by Julie Hahn
