Dates:  Monday, September 21
Time:  6:30 to 8:00 p.m.
Location:  Fellowship Hall | Manchester UMC
Leaders:  Bea Schwartz, Janis Thompson, and Paul Van Klaveren

Description:  The Social Justice and Mission Teams are launching The Dignity Lunch Project, which is a collaborative mission partnership between Manchester United Methodist Church and Fifth Street Renaissance that will prepare and distribute 100 substantial sack lunches each week to people experiencing homelessness in East St. Louis and Alton, Illinois.
 

The ministry will also create 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.

If you would like to learn more about this project, an organizational meeting is taking place on Monday, September 21, 6:30 – 8:00 p.m. in Fellowship Hall. Ministry Leaders – Bea Schwartz, Janis Thompson and Paul Van Klaveren, will outline the goals, plans and hopes of this ministry. We will then practice our model by completing 100 bags with sandwiches, chips, protein bar, water, and hand-written notes.

Please let us know you are able to attend this planning meeting by completing one registration form per person: