The members of Grace Anglican Church hope to invite everyone (and anyone!) in Milton to visit their beautiful church for a Community Meal on the first Thursday of every month. In April 2023 this happened on the second Thursday instead as the church observed Holy Week leading up to Easter.
Recently, in April 2023, Grace welcomed 60 people to a delicious meal of ham, scalloped potatoes, salad, garlic bread and hot cross buns. 3 large hams (The largest of these weighed 22 kg.) were donated by International Delicatessen on the Guelph Line.
The Community Meals were first held in February 2015.
Church Secretary Lorrette Shermet explained: “The reason we started this was to help the less fortunate but for the first four months it was only the volunteers who attended. We took a break in July and August 2015 and started up again in September 2015. We opened it to everyone and then we noticed the majority of the people coming out were seniors and people living alone. We continued doing it every month until March 2020 when we were abruptly halted by COVID. We restarted January 2023 with only 36 but our numbers are slowly growing. PreCOVID we had around 70 to 80 people for dinner.”
All the cooking is done in the Grace kitchen.
“It is done by several volunteers.” explained Lorrette, “Lately Margaret Doma has been a huge help. Margaret is a parishioner from Holy Rosary. Most of the food is supplied by Food for Life. This month it was supplied by Gordon Foods, Cobbs, International Delicatessen, Sobeys and Food for Life.”
In 2019 Grace Church only cooked and prepared one meal every other month alternately with a different group or organization in Milton. In the past they have had volunteers from Holy Rosary who have hosted. Other groups, such as those from the Filipino and Muslim communities willingly took turns to partner with Grace to host meals.
Grace volunteers are very willing to partner with other groups that would like to assist with this very worthwhile event, bringing the community together in an enjoyable way. All the cooking can be carried out in the Grace kitchen and the sit-down meals would be served at Grace.
This is an ideal opportunity for high school students to pick up student hours. 3 students from schools in Milton were invaluable to help cooperatively with setting up, serving and cleaning up. They said “We like coming! It’s fun!”
Jessie Peach and Cathy Buchanan from Martin House really enjoyed the company. Jessie said, “The food was great! And the hosts are exceptional!”
To contact Grace Church about this very important opportunity to volunteer as an individual or as part of a group or organization, please contact: secretary@gracechurchmilton.com.
To make a donation of money or food for a meal, please contact: treasurer@gracechurchmilton.com
To enjoy a Community Meal at Grace Church, please drop by between 5 and 6:30 pm on the first Thursday of every month, and you will be welcomed warmly
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