Hot meals for the cold weather

A Wallaceburg church has been feeding members of the community for more than nine years with one meal every month.

In March 2006 Jennifer Provost-Kanally, a member of First Baptist Church in Wallaceburg, started Helping Hands Café, a monthly meal outreach to the community.  It has continued running every month since then.

Kanally said God put it in her heart during church one morning to start this café to show the community what true Christianity was like and show love of Christ.

“I knew what it was like to be an outcast, feeling like I wasn’t good enough to go into a church,” said Kanally.  “I always felt judged and I wanted to make sure people knew it wasn’t really like that … a few Christians ruin it for non-Christians.”

After moving to a different church, Kanally handed over the ministry to Janine Thomas who had been helping out with the café since it started in August 2011.

The café is funded primarily by First Baptist, but there have also been donations of money and food from members of the congregation and people who have come to the café.  Thomas decides what meals to cook based on the season and what meat is on sale at the local grocery store.

“I like serving others and helping feed the community and those in need,” said Thomas.

Her greatest challenge is not knowing who will show up to help out each month.  She makes the announcement in church the Sunday before and talks to people afterwards about it.  She doesn’t really know who will volunteer besides the three or four people who come every month to help.

Thomas said the greatest reward from running the café being able to fill a need in the community with one or two meals a month.  Any leftover food gets put into containers and given away to people in attendance at the meal.   Thomas also hopes there will be a spiritual impact on the community through this ministry.

“It’s a place where people can come get fed, and also a place where they can come and hear a bit of the word of God,” said Chesley Pottle, who has been helping out with the Café for three months.

Pottle said the most rewarding part of volunteering with the café is the fellowship he has with people who come to enjoy the meal and the other volunteers during the meal and the cleanup.  He would like to see even more people come out to this event.

The Café currently hosts between 75 and 100 people each month, an increase from the first meal in 2006 which had 10 volunteers and four in attendance.

Over the nine and a half years this ministry has been running, it has spawned similar monthly meal outreaches in five other churches in the community.