Local Church Demonstrates That We Reap What We Sow

by Julie Cordingley

The quote over their busy kitchen reads “God Bless Our Food, Amen….” It’s a “big ask,” considering that since the COVID-19 pandemic, almost a quarter million meals have been prepared in this kitchen.

For New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran Church, what began as a simple gesture to help fellow-parishioners has since grown to include neighbors and ultimately the surrounding community. This should come as no surprise considering that “To Love Our Neighbors As Ourselves” is at the heart of their church and at the heart of their Loaves and Fishes Food Ministry. It is a joyous outreach.

Requests for meals have only grown since the Covid year. According to retired teacher turned inspired volunteer, Donna Kehs, “It’s cyclical. Some months are up while others are down. Right now, the need is high.” She muses that when food requests are increasing, there also is a corresponding need for more volunteers and donations to keep pace with the need.

The logistics behind the food ministry’s efforts are incredible, but the volunteers make it look relatively effortless. Their “service above self” can be witnessed every day.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays around 6:00 a.m., “Master Chef” Chris Fatzinger arrives at the church to prepare more than 150 meals. He usually is accompanied by his chief bottle and oversized pan washer, who just happens to be his 90 -year-old dad, Lee “Speedy” Fatzinger.

It is up to the younger Fatzinger to decide what is being made that week. Each meal is different, depending on food donations available, and can be influenced by the time of year – think Super Bowl Sunday or fresh vegetables during the summer. Once the full course meals are prepared, a new crew of five or six volunteers springs into action, packs-up the meals, and quickly places them in oversize refrigerators.

The next day, yet another volunteer group comes in to carefully set aside the meals requested by individuals, couples, or families. One packaging duo, Lynn Fegley and her fellow church member Vicky Mutter, explained that each recipient receives enough food for three days. The meals are carefully explained in typed daily menus that accompany each take-out  bag.

Once the meals are labeled, a caravan of drivers arrives in the church’s turn-around to pick up bags for their assigned recipients. One volunteer, Jenn, remarked that her delivery destinations “are my family -- not literally-- but that is how I feel about them.”

The volunteers are not limited to adults. Mutter asked her Sunday school class to lend a hand. And despite the miserable weather and the fact that it was Super Bowl Sunday, those young people cheerfully came in – decked-out in their Eagle gear! -- and prepared 250 muffins. Kehs explains it is never too early (or too late) for people to learn empathy.

The food ministry is funded and sustained through several means: timely grants from organizations such as Thrivent, generous food and monetary donations from individuals (a farmer with extra eggs), and families. It also is supported through the ingenuity of the parishioners themselves.

Realizing that fresh food is always in demand, the church, in partnership with Trellis for Tomorrow, installed a 3,000 square foot garden complete with an irrigation system and deer fencing. Work parties are arranged throughout the summer to help with garden essentials, such as composting and the never-ending, dreaded chore of weeding.

So successful was the bounty from their aptly named “Garden of Hope,” that any leftover vegetables and fruit were distributed to Boyertown’s Area Multi-Service’s Preston’s Pantry and Pottstown’s Cluster Outreach program.

Indeed, the 4,000 pounds of vegetables were so very much appreciated that the parishioners doubled the garden’s square footage, with the expectation that this coming summer there will be twice as much goodness to pass around.

Summing up the spirit that infuses the volunteers, Kehs emphasizes, “It is enough to know that you are helping people in need.” This sentiment is beautifully evident through the people at New Hanover Evangelical Lutheran Church, who aspire to live those words by loving their neighbors.   

[Photos by Julie Cordingley]

Information for how to request meals and directions on how to donate food, money, and time can be found online at the group’s website.

It has been over 40 years since a chemist job in Malvern lured Julie Cordingley away from her up state, New York home. She is a proud resident of Gilbertsville! Besides working in industry, at various times she has been a stay-at-home mom, and has just recently retired from Phoenixville Area School District as a (wait for it!) chemistry teacher. It has been a life-long dream to be a writer. She figures she can work at that craft while also traveling with her husband in their drivable RV… a retirement present to herself!

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