Grace Lutheran Church and Community Come Together to Offer Boxed Meals on Thursday

Ron Wilshire

Ron Wilshire

Published April 22, 2020 4:35 am
Image

CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — It takes a community to respond to needs in times of a pandemic, and one such response in Clarion includes the National Guard, Grace Lutheran Church, the Infusion Night Club, and bikers from Clarion County ABATE.

(PICTURED ABOVE: Reverend Jake Jacobson, of Grace Lutheran Church.)

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack all in one box are being distributed this Thursday from noon until 5:00 p.m. No reservations are required, and the only question asked that day will be how many are in your family.

It all started when Pastor Jake Jacobson, of the Grace Lutheran Church, was contacted by the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry of Pennsylvania in Harrisburg and was told there was food/meals available, and he should fill out a survey.

“Not really knowing what the need was, I tried to project into the future where some of the gaps might be,” said Jacobson. “My request was for 100 meals for 30 days, and they informed me they couldn’t promise they could fill that, but within 24 hours, they had the meals on wheels here on Friday. There’s enough for one person in each box.”

The National Guard delivered the meals from the Department of Defense. The Meal, Ready-to-Eat – commonly known as the MRE – is a self-contained, individual field ration in lightweight packaging bought by the United States Department of Defense for its service members for use in combat or other field conditions where organized food facilities are not available, according to Wikipedia.

“I contacted the agencies such as the Clarion Area Agency on Aging and others around the county, and most of the people in the various systems appear to be pretty well covered,” explained  Jacobson.

“The gaps are those who have been laid off, so that’s really who we would like to target with this. They are the most vulnerable in the area right now, but it’s really open to everybody.”

For many of the target audience, something like this has never happened to them, and they don’t really know where to look for help.

The staff of Infusion and members of ABATE helped unload the truck on Friday and will also help with distribution on Thursday in front of Grace Lutheran Church at 417 Madison Road, in Clarion.

“We’re asking for the number in the family because my hope is that we’ll be able to do another distribution in a couple of weeks,” said Jacobson.  “However, this may have been a one-time delivery.”

The staff of Infusion Night Club and Grille, ABATE and the National Guard all helped unload meals Friday at Grace Lutheran Church on Madison Street in Clarion. It takes a community

The staff of Infusion Night Club and Grille, Clarion County ABATE, and the National Guard all helped unload meals on Friday at Grace Lutheran Church on Madison Road in Clarion. It takes a community

Recent Articles

Community Partner