Kathy and Matt Auble share a 2025 update about this good work!
The Frozen Food Ministry continues to reach others on a weekly basis. What started off as picking up leftover frozen food from Strongsville UMC, using that food to prepare camp meals for the un-housed, has expanded into distributing food to at least 5 different locations each week.
On any given Tuesday afternoon, we have upwards of 9 volunteers sorting, cooking, boxing, clean-up, and delivering meals and food throughout Northeast Ohio and beyond.
This ministry supports the following people and places:
- Nehemiah Mission a UMC Urban Ministry in Cleveland: Chicken and pastries so they may have a weekly community brunch
- B.Riley House an LGBTQ+ Drug & Alcohol Treatment Facility in Cleveland: Chicken, soups, and trays of food from Lubrizol and the Cleveland Browns to Chuck, the chef. He uses this food to prepare meals for the 15-20 in-house residents at B.Riley, which is an LGBTQ+ Drug and Alcohol Treatment facility on the West Side of Cleveland.
- Trials for Hope in Ohio City is delivering hope all around Cleveland: Hot meals for the un-homed which Jonathan Gray delivers to the camps on Tuesday and Thursday.
- Elevate Him Worship Center Cafe in Wellsville Ohio: Melanie Smith delivers chicken, mac-n-cheese, desserts, bread, and trays of food from the Cleveland Browns to Kat, the director. Kat uses this food to prepare community meals each Wednesday and Friday and shares boxes of food with families in need. Wellsville is an Ohio River Town located about ½ hour south of Youngstown. It has been hit hard by the closing of the industries that supported the town for generations.
- Urban Community School on Cleveland’s west side: Starting in January, we will be helping prepare a meal for House of Champions, which is an after school program for inner city young girls that attend Urban School. This afterschool program assists with day care as well as homework help until parents can pick them up after work.
- Emergency Needs: When someone in need reaches out to members of our church for emergency food, we work with them to take care of this need.
- Food Hunger Network: Our Church is now a member of this organization. The Food Hunger Network connects with businesses to ensure leftover food never goes to waste. They also contact members when food is available for pick up from these businesses. Currently, we pick up from Lubrizol every Friday.
We are always looking for new sources of food and places to deliver. If you know of any new sources, please let the office know, and we will try to incorporate them into our weekly outreach. Also, if anyone wishes to join us in any capacity, please let the office know, and we will reach out to you. You can also reach out to any of our volunteers: Ric Lesinski, Paul Calovini, Bob Feldner, Maggie Jones, Jack Drescher, Matt Auble, Kathy Auble, Heidi Slagel, Julie Evonna, Anne Thal, Brian Bendlak, Becky Bendlak, Abigail Bendlak, Dave Brown, Melanie Smith and John Leitch.
In Other News, Kathy & Bob are Certified!
In November, Kathy and Bob completed a training program to learn about best practices for food safety and became certified ServSafe Food Handlers, ensuring that our kitchen and the food that will share will be safe for all. Talk about living out our vision of creating safe spaces to grow with God and one another!
