So a friend of mine, who is going through a lot right now, told me that people from her church had recently dropped off some meals for them.

She was really glad that they did this.

And this got me thinking. Why don’t we do this more often? Why are meal trains a thing that churches don’t do?

(At least, no parish I’ve ever belonged to has ‘done’ this, except for things like funeral luncheons.)

So I asked people on Twitter.

Most people would be interested in doing this—but their parish doesn’t currently do it.

Some reasons why?

LEGAL issues, amazingly. I hadn’t even thought of that. The idea that the parish had to have a clean kitchen that was up to code and all sorts of stuff.

And then this led me into another tangent: Why do we think it has to be “parish approved”?

I think one of the problems we run into these days is that everything has to be done by committee. We have to have plans and expenditures and charts and resolutions and PLANS.

Now I like a good plan. But for me, this seems like one of the simplest things ever.

1) Get a group of people together (via email/Facebook/whatever) that wants to serve the people in the community by providing meals. It can be for new parents, sick people in the family, deaths, whatever.

2) Publicize the idea. Put it in the bulletin or tell people that it exists. If your parish is anything like the ones I’ve belonged to, the parish information chain is a magical thing and people will just know who needs what—but get a contact email out there for people who are new!

3) People request meals, noting any allergies, of course.

4) People provide meals.

5) Repeat

Why does this have to be hard?

The parish doesn’t need to be involved at all—the people would make the meals in their own homes. It’s not under parish auspices. It’s just something that the people of the parish decide to do. There’s no money from the parish. Etc.

This seems like an easy way to “feed the hungry” in a way that I think gets missed. A lot of times people don ‘t need a food pantry. They need help, but it’s things like a few meals. Or maybe gift cards to groceries stories. They aren’t in the position to need long term help, but right now, they could use some help filling in the cracks.

I know in this time of COVID the idea of dropping off food and such can be….fraught.

But let’s make this happen. Let’s get together and provide this service to people who need it. If you think this is a good idea and you have the time, set it up in your parish.

Let’s be those hands and feet of Christ!

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