Church to offer free drive-thru meal pickup Friday afternoon
On Friday afternoon, Dec. 30, at 5:30 p.m., community members are invited to drive through the parking lot at Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church (ORUUC) to pick up a free meal for themselves, family, friends or neighbors.
On the menu this month: sausage and potato goulash, fresh fruit and red velvet cake bars. Meals and bags of non-perishable groceries will be distributed until 6:30 p.m., or until supplies run out
.The goulash is a recipe Stone Soup leader Miria Webb discovered while trying to come up with meal ideas for her family. Her son is notoriously a chicken nugget kind of kid, she added, so anytime she can make something from scratch that he wants seconds of, it's a winner. “Its hearty, stick-to-your-ribs quality is great for the cold and dark season,” Webb said. “Something to warm you up from the inside out.”
When she realized this meal would be falling so close to New Year’s, she wanted to throw some traditional good luck towards diners.“ My family is very German in origin and pork is one of our traditional New Year's foods,” Webb said.
This monthly meal is made possible through a long-standing partnership between ORUUC, the Jewish Congregation of Oak Ridge (JCOR) and Kroger Marketplace. Making community connections, forming relationships among volunteers, and sharing meals together were among the goals of this Social Action Working Group at ORUUC when it approached the congregation in 2010 with the idea of Stone Soup.
Before COVID, volunteers welcomed diners into ORUUC’s Social Hall, where they served the meals. During the pandemic, the team switched gears, first handing out grocery cards, then putting together bagged takeout meals, which continue to be handed out on the final Friday of every month.
“I hear so many words of thanks … sometimes in messages from the church, sometimes in person, sometimes in a personal email,” said Webb, who joined the Stone Soup volunteer team earlier this year.
“For me, this project has been a light in a particularly difficult year. The fellowship of my fellow cooks and bakers, the good cheer of our distribution team, and the positive responses we get from the community have lifted my heart so many times. I hope our little bit of service brightens everyone's new year.”
ORUUC is at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike, near traffic light #2. Volunteers will be waiting at the loop near the church entrance to bring meals and groceries to your vehicle. All are welcome, always!
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Church to offer free drive-thru meal pickup Friday afternoon
