Saint Benedict

St. Benedict Feeding Ministry April

First of all, I want to thank everyone who has participated and supported our monthly Community Dinners by their prayers, donations and volunteering in the many jobs that make up the Community Dinners. There certainly is an energy and passion among the congregation to support this important ministry to the hungry of our community. The word seems to be getting out to the Lacey/Olympia community and more people from different areas are showing up for our dinners. The people attending our dinners are very grateful for the delicious food served, Food Bank items and fellowship they find at St. Benedict’s. We have already accomplished some of the 2008 organizational goals:
  •  We received training from Officer Stansbury from the Lacey Police Department concerning safety and security for the Community Dinners.
  • We had a Food Handler’s Class to increase the volunteers who have a Food Handler’s card (we had 29 people present for this training).
  • Created job descriptions for each Community Dinner volunteer position.
  • Created a log book to hold statistics and Food Bank information.
  • Created a Children’s Table at the Community Dinner (child size table and chairs with coloring pages, crayons, paper, glue sticks, foam shapes, stickers and books for reading).
Goals in progress are:
  •  Create a directory of Community Dinner volunteers.
  • Have more volunteers take Van Driving training.
  • Create a Recipe Book to assist volunteers in making dinners for large groups of people.
  • Continue the donations for Food Bank and “Other Bank” (a full list is located next to the dinner sign-up sheets).
  • Continue donations for Children’s Table (coloring books, and reading books for toddlers to teens, either new or used in good condition) and art supplies Items need for the Children’s Table are on the “Other Bank” donation list). We want each child to have the opportunity to take home a book to read.
  • Increase communication about the Community Dinners.
  • Create a Community Dinner Board – this will help create a vision and determine the “next steps” for the monthly Community Dinners.

I believe the St. Benedict’s Feeding Ministry is something that EVERY MEMBER of St. Benedict’s can be involved in. You can be involved whether you come to the actual Community Dinner or not. We need your prayers, your continued donations for the Food Bank and “Other Bank”, desserts can be made from home for the dinner, and decorations for the dinner can be made at home. If you want to be involved but are not sure how you can contribute, please contact Sue Andersen by phone or email.

I am confident we can find a way that you can   contribute to this important ministry. We want you to feel that this is YOUR ministry, so please contact me.

COMMUNITY DINNER JOB POSITIONS ARE:
  • Cook
  • Sous Cook
  • Shopper
  • Set-up for Dinner 
  • Van Driver 
  • Escort
  • Outside Greeter Host/Hostess
  • Ladlers (plate food) Servers
  • Table Volunteer Clean –up for Kitchen
  • Clean-up for Dining Room
  • Food Bank Security
  • Statistics (record who attended dinner)

Publicity – we are in need of a regular volunteer that can help get the word out to the community about our monthly dinners. Please contact SueAndersen if you are interested in helping with this very important ministry (check job description for details).

As you can see, it takes a lot of people to make the Community Dinner happen! We have a devoted group of people who are involved but we would like to expand the volunteer base so there is always someone available to cover the positions needed each month and to hopefully expand the number of dinners we can provide.

The sign-up sheets for each month are in a notebook that is kept on the hallway counter. If you want to volunteer, please put your name on the sign-up sheet for the monthly dinner you want to be involved in. Job descriptions for each of the positions are located in an accordion file on the hallway counter, by the sign-up notebook. 

Blessings—Sue Andersen