Fellowship Cup looks to expand meal program in 2017

BY BRYCE KELLY

Mt. Pleasant News

Despite 2017 being several weeks away, Ken Brown, director of the Fellowship Cup, says he?s looking forward to starting a new year, and in particular, starting a new program at the local non-profit.

Beginning in January, the Fellowship Cup, of Mt. Pleasant, will start hosting the Family Evening Meal program. Much like the popular afternoon Community Meals program, which the Fellowship Cup holds every Wednesday, the Family Evening Meal program is meant to engage families with children who are unable to attend the Wednesday afternoon meal due to work or school.

?We have plans and we already have it scheduled to do a family meal,? said Brown. ?The idea is to serve busy families with kids ? no matter what that family looks like. Whether it?s a single mom or dad, maybe a grandparent who is caring for their grandchildren full-time, and so on, we want to provide a time for them to eat together.?

According to Brown, initially the evening program will start out as a quarterly event. However, Brown is hoping that schedule will change.

?We are going to start slow and small with this just to get all the kinks worked out, but hopefully as we go, we will be able to do more. My ultimate goal is for this to be something we do monthly,? he said.

Already, a women?s group from a local church have signed up to be the first group to host the inaugural meal. Those wishing to attend are asked to sign up at the Fellowship Cup so food can be prepared accordingly.

Provided solely by various churches, businesses and local ministries, the Fellowship Cup?s Community Meals strive to provide a full lunch or dinner to members of the local community. Meals cost a small fee, which goes right back into the program to pay for the next meal.

The Fellowship Cup can provide all or some of the ingredients to make the meal, or groups who host can bring everything themselves.

?We just ask that any group that hosts prepares the food and serves it,? said Brown.

And although the evening meal?s main purpose will be to provide a low-cost dinner to local families, Brown says he hopes that, like the afternoon Community Meal program, the evening dinners serve a larger goal.

?We want families to have time to sit down together with other families in our community and fellowship with one another. Building relationships is what we want the overall goal of this program to be,? Brown says. ?So, we are excited and hope that the community will get excited and want to be a part of this, too.?

The first Family Evening Community Meal will be held on Monday, Jan. 23, at the Fellowship Cup. For more details or to sign up to attend, call the Fellowship Cup office at 319-385-3242.