Dates:  Thursdays, starting November 5
Time:  10:00 to 11:30 a.m.
Location:  Fellowship Hall | Manchester UMC
Leaders:  Bea Schwartz, Janis Thompson, June Van Klaveren, and Paul Van Klaveren

Description:  The Dignity Lunch Project brings together Manchester UMC volunteers and Fifth Street Renaissance outreach staff to provide 100 substantial lunch bags each week to our Neighbors experiencing hunger in Metro East Illinois. The ministry addresses an ongoing crisis of inadequate nutrition by providing consistent food assistance while fostering human connection and opportunities to access additional support.
 

The ministry creates an accessible way for people throughout Manchester UMC to serve. Volunteers can prepare food, donate supplies, write notes, organize collections, coordinate volunteers, or participate occasionally. The partnership combines the congregation’s capacity for hospitality and volunteer service with Fifth Street Renaissance’s field-based outreach relationships and ability to deliver directly to people who may never enter a church building, food pantry, or social-service office.

We want people receiving these lunches to experience them not simply as charity, but as neighbor-to-neighbor care. The meal, handwritten message, reliable schedule, and direct outreach distribution communicate a common message:  You are seen. Your life has value. Your community has not forgotten you.

Weekly Volunteer Positions:

• Volunteers (6) to set up tables, prepare sandwiches*, lunch bag assembly, and tear down tables
• Card Writers (3) will prepare handwritten notes to put in each lunch bag (begins in January)

*Allergy Alert:  Peanut butter will be present and used during the sandwich-making and assembly process.

All volunteers must:

1. Register in advance by clicking on the Registration button below; walk-ins are not permitted.
2. Limit your sign-up to once a month so that all interested volunteers have an opportunity to participate.
3. Complete a Consent Form prior to volunteering.  To see if you already have a valid consent form on file, click here.