St. Paul's United Methodist Church
Friday, May 18, 2012
To know and follow Christ, and to help others know and follow Christ

Neighborhood Meals

Service with a smile

Neighborhood Meal and Enrichment Program 2011 Overview

DURING THE SUMMER OF 2011:

The Neighborhood Meal and Enrichment Program provided a warm, nutritious meal, for (but not limited to) the Wellington Heights, Mound View, and Oak Hill neighborhood children and their families. Noon meals were provided at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church for the neighborhood children and their families. The meals were prepared and served on site. Seven community churches helped to sponsor the program. This was the twenty-second year for the program. Over 10,000 meals were prepared and served at the meal sites during the summer of 2011.

  1. 246 different Volunteers worked with the program.
  2. Volunteers served beverages and desserts in the dining room.  Volunteers helped prepare and serve meals in the kitchen. The persons served then cleaned their own area when finished eating. Some days when there were not enough volunteers, neighborhood persons volunteered their help.
  3.  The NMEP worked in collaboration with the St. Paul’s UMC SPRINT summer youth program, The Bridge at Four Oaks summer youth program, and the Matthew 25 Program by providing meals prepared at St. Paul’s UMC.
  4. Funding for the NMEP came from private donations, community donations, pledges from the sponsoring Churches, EFSP, the Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation, the United Methodist Carma Mohler Hunger Grant, The Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, and the Tuesday Noon Optimists.  The program received food donations from some private individuals, and has access to the HACAP Food Reservoir. There is no one source of continuous funding for the program, and so fund raising is a continual, on-going process.
  5. To eliminate any barriers to service, there is no charge for any of the program services for any of the participants. 
  6. More adults came with their children to eat this summer. This seemed a positive sign of forming bridges between the program and the entire family unit within the neighborhoods.
  7. The NMEP will continue to communicate with other community groups and organizations during the year to be sure there is no duplication of services, and that there is collaboration with other groups whenever possible.