MONROE — The kitchen downstairs in Monroe’s Grace Lutheran Church bustled with activity the afternoon of Nov. 24. As the fourth Sunday, it was the day of the monthly Loaves and Fishes community dinner and, naturally, November’s served as a Thanks-giving feast.
This month’s sponsor was Next Generation 4-H Club from Juda, led by Debbie Myers. Loaves and Fishes will cook for a sponsor, or the sponsor can do the cooking themselves. Myers is one of the cooks Loaves and Fishes will bring in to help other sponsors, and has done so for a few years.
She took the lead in the kitchen Sunday, as Next Generation 4-H prepared to welcome up to 200 people, larger than the Loaves and Fishes usual crowd of around 125 to 130 people — about 100 guests and roughly 30 volunteers.
“We’ve done this before,” said Myers of her group, the largest 4-H club in Green County. “But we’ve never taken on such a huge undertaking as Thanksgiving,” she said.
But they asked to do it this year. In just its sixth year, Myers said the club has 122 members and more than 50 adult leaders.
“We’re big enough to do this,” she said.
If you go:
Dinners are held on the fourth Sunday each month at Grace Lutheran Church, 1025 15th Ave., Monroe.
To volunteer, contact Donna Philliips at dnbp@tds.net.
In order to sponsor this meal — as well as giving back in other ways like donating blankets to hospice and dog toys to the humane society — the club fundraises all year.
“Whatever we can do, that’s what we do,” said Myers.
Loaves and Fishes started about eight years ago via a grant applied for by Fr. Brian Backstrand of St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in Monroe. Volunteer coordinator Donna Phillips said the initial idea was for a soup kitchen, but it was decided that a community meal might be better, “so that we could serve all types of people,” she said.
“It was more important to bring the community and people together even than to feed them,” said Brian’s wife Marilee, who is also part of the organization. The meal is free.
“Anybody and everybody’s invited,” said Loaves and Fishes president Kris Wisnefske.
The group partners with Grace Lutheran Church, holding all of the meals there, as the kitchen was best suited for the event. Phillips said she liked the round tables there, which better facilitate community. They’ve only ever had to cancel once in eight years, and that was because the schedule conflicted with a funeral.
They’ve also made adjustments along the way, changing things that aren’t working and improving the food.
“We’ve tried to cater more to what people like,” she said, and things that work well. One popular item that Myers does is cheesy potatoes.
All told on Sunday the group prepared 55 pounds of turkey and 45 pounds of homemade mashed potatoes, along with stuffing, corn, squash, marshmallow fruit salad and rolls, accompanied by five gallons of cranberry sauce and two gallons of gravy. They also bought 12 pumpkin pies and three half-sheet cakes for dessert.
About 175 to 180 people were served, with just a little bit of food left over. Myers said later they were expecting another big crowd for the next community dinner — to be held Dec. 22 due to the holidays and December having five Sundays.
Wisnefske said some people tell her they don’t come to the meals because they don’t need the food – a myth she hopes to dispel.
“It’s not about needing the food,” she said. “It’s about community.”
