By Rori Bennett – Junior Reporter
Bethel Pentecostal Church held a community ‘takeout meal’ on Tuesday, March 24, with families in attendance lined up in their cars outside of the church.
More than 115 take out meals were served by organizer Loree Bailey, her husband Rick Bernard and their 12-year-old son, Joe Bernard.
“Everything went very smoothly,” Bailey told the Sydenham Current.
“We know that some of our regular community meal clients come for the fellowship and did not come for these take out meals. But we did have some new faces as well. It was a different meal for us, but it went really well.
Bailey said when serving regular monthly meals, many volunteers are involved in helping to serve food and clean up.
However, while many people came forth to volunteer again, the number of servers were limited for the safety and wellbeing of everyone involved.
Bailey said when families drove up to the area, a volunteer wearing gloves handed them a meal, which consisted of a pasta dinner, a roll, salad and a bag of fresh produce.
After serving a family, the volunteer was instructed to reenter the church, perform hand hygiene and put on a fresh pair of gloves.
For those that walked or rode their bicycle, they were instructed to maintain a distance of two metres between each other, and come to the doors of the church for their meal, Bailey added.
They intend to put this meal on again if the state of the community warrants it, Bailey added.
“Our church is very committed to helping the community,” she said.
“We have daily outreach where we provide free meals to those who need them. We aren’t able to do as much right now as local restaurants have closed down, and this is where we get some of the food from. We know that other programs in the community aren’t running as everyone is trying to be safe. We felt like we could do this safely. We know the need is there. We wanted to help.”
Funds for the monthly community meals are provided by Bethel Pentecostal Church, with help from donations within the community.
Bethel Pentecostal Church is located at 35 Mcnaughton Ave. in Wallaceburg.
Learn more about the church on their website, here: http://bethelwallaceburg.com/
