As Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:35-36, “For I was hungry and you gave me food, thirsty and you gave me drink, a stranger and you welcomed me, naked and you clothed me, ill and you cared for me.” We recognize as Catholics that we are called to love those among us — especially those in need. And with the re-establishment of our Meal Delivery Ministry, we can do just that for many of our fellow parishioners who are homebound and in need of fellowship.
“This ministry is a simple but invaluable one,” says Beth Browning, coordinator of the Meal Delivery Ministry. “Many of our homebound parishioners are eager to simply see and talk to another person, and some are just eager to have a hot meal prepared by someone. This ministry allows us to offer them a meal and a quick visit and, in that, to show them our love.”
The Meal Delivery Ministry is one that was up and running smoothly before the COVID-19 shutdowns of 2020. Then, as with so many other things, the ministry had to stop.
“We were serving 25-30 people each month at that point,” Beth says. “People were very willing to serve in this way, and our homebound greatly appreciated it. I am looking forward to the same thing holding true as we begin again.”
Now, as our post-COVID world has returned to some normalcy, our parish outreach team decided it was time to revisit this ministry.
“It seemed like now was the time to begin again,” Beth says. “So many of our homebound parishioners are the backbone of our parish. They have served us for many years, and we want to take the time to serve them. Now that life is back to normal, we thought we ought to get this ministry going again!”
The Meal Delivery Ministry offers an opportunity for members of other parish ministries to cook and deliver meals to the homebound and then spend a few minutes visiting with them.
It is really very simple! The ministry that serves for that month will bring food to the Knights of Columbus on the third Thursday of the month. They cook whatever they’d like at home. Some choose to do Crockpot meals and some bring in pasta dishes or other such meals. The menu is left to the ministry members to decide. They then bring in whatever they have cooked, and Beth provides the necessary containers to divide and package the food for delivery. Each driver then is given about two people to visit.
“It is a no-hassle process,” Beth says. “I have the deliveries broken up into sections of the city for the drivers, and I ask each driver to deliver one to two meals. That way, there is a little bit of time for them to visit with the homebound.”
The ministry started back up this May, and they will continue to serve our homebound on the third Thursday of each month.
“We have had youth groups and basketball teams and many others volunteer before,” Beth says. “It is a ministry everyone can do. And I am sure we will see the same generous response from parishioners as we saw before.”
We are looking forward to serving our homebound in this way for years to come!
If your family or a ministry you are a part of would like to volunteer to serve in this way, please contact Beth Browning at 812-486-5783.
