The Friends We Have Made at Meal-Packing Events
This winter, I’m re-watching Friends. I sneak in a quick episode before dinner, or sometimes early on a Saturday morning before the family wakes up. Thirty years ago, Rachel moved in with Monica at the same time I moved to Connecticut, and I developed a group of friends much like the ones we came to love on our TV screens every Thursday night. Their journey to adulthood really resonated with me. It still does.
The journey of meal-packing at SUM has also resulted in an amazing group of friends that have grown since we started in October of 2021. By the time our April 27th event is complete, we will have raised more than $50,000, volunteers will have generously donated more than 700 hours of their time packing meals and we will have fed more than 150,000 people!
All of this help for hungry families would not have been possible without YOU – the amazing SUM community! There are so many members of the congregation who have been steadfast in their support of our efforts – people who are there with us for an early morning setup and remain until the last piece of macaroni has been swept from the floor. Others help with getting volunteers outfitted in hairnets and gloves on Saturday, and come back to distribute cases of soup mix to food banks on Monday. Some make a financial contribution to ensure that we are able to purchase enough product to meet the food bank requests. This support – in all forms – has helped us all to feel the SUM sense of community and friendship.
And that sense of friendship extends beyond our walls. Did you know that about half of meal-packing volunteers come from outside our congregation? There are people that I met while volunteering at the library book sale that now consistently volunteer with us for meal-packing. There’s a company that agreed to sponsor a previous event, and is still coming back with their families to volunteer! These folks are able to see our amazing church and meet so many of you.
As we approach our April 27th event, I wanted to share that I’m stepping back as the coordinator of meal-packing events. We’re hoping to find someone to continue weaving our events into the fabric of not only the SUM community but the broader community. Please feel free to reach out to me if you would like to explore coordinating future events.
If you would like to volunteer at our April 27th event, we would love to have you! Please sign up here.
I will never forget the love and support that the SUM community has shown, and want to thank you from the bottom of my heart.
- Jen Zeronsa