Mt. Pleasant Fellowship Cup celebrates 40 years

The Fellowship Cup celebrated 40 years of service on Saturday with a pancake breakfast and a sale at the Quarter Maybe More Store in Mt. Pleasant.

Despite a brisk early morning, Hundreds of community members turned out Saturday morning to celebrate the nonprofit and all the work it's done over the years.

Executive Director Ken Brown said the celebration is for the community and all the work they've done.

"I'm truly honored that I'm here at this time," Brown said. "There's just so much history. There are so many people that started The Fellowship Cup that are not with us. It's got a long legacy, and we're here to celebrate with the community. It's never been about one person or a group of people. It's truly been the community, the volunteers, staff, churches, businesses, schools. That's what we wanted to celebrate."

On their way into The Fellowship Cup building, attendees could choose from shirts, hats, coffee mugs, and key chains. The items were given out as an extra thank you for the community support.

For breakfast, attendees were given the choice of beverage from milk, orange juice, or coffee to accompany their pancakes.

At the Quarter Maybe More Store, people lined up 100 feet down the street for a chance to get inside.

The store was offering a fall-flash back sale, where everything in the store was 25 cents.

Bob Hunt, who is on The Fellowship Cup board, says he joined because of the work that is done with the community.

"I got on the board here a couple of years ago," he said. "They had something called Bridges Out of Poverty, and it's really helpful to people that are struggling. Once I saw that it really touched my heart to get involved."

Brown said that it's great that the community has a place to go for assistance, as many places don't.

"Not a lot of communities have anything like The Fellowship Cup," he said. "I think folks in Henry County really appreciate this organization and what the community has done through this organization. I have people who come from other counties that are like, 'Wow, we need something like this.' We should be really blessed to have this and that it thrives for another 40 years.“

The Fellowship Cup is a community-led nonprofit organization that offers aid and support to the under-served of Henry County. It provides a wide array of programs to help those that may need assistance.

These programs include a food pantry, building bridges out of poverty, which helps people with self-improvement, and summer snacks, which offers kids free lunch Monday through Friday. They offer utility and rent assistance. These are just a select few of the programs the Fellowship Cup has to offer.

Shannon Van Nyhuis said it’s amazing how many people the organization touches.

“One thing I didn’t realize when I got involved was seeing just how many different people use The Fellowship Cup as central hub,” she said. “They’re able to bless so many people that need help or a hand up.”

Comments: hunter.moeller@southeastiowaunion.com