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Free community meal served at Oak Ridge Unitarian Church on Friday

Free community meal served at Oak Ridge Unitarian Church on Friday

Rachel Smith Jones
| Especially for The Oak Ridger

Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church will reopen its doors to the community for its Free Friday Meal on October 25 at 5:30 p.m. All are invited to enjoy homemade African harvest soup with fresh fruit and brownies.

African Harvest Soup is a favorite that the team served last winter. It is a vegetarian/vegan version that contains sweet potatoes, cabbage, tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, apple concentrate and tahini, a sesame paste substitute for peanut butter. Copies of the recipe are included with each meal.

Meals are served from 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. or until supplies run out. Guests may park and come into the church’s social hall to enjoy a meal with others, or go inside to pick up a to-go meal for themselves or for a family member, a neighbor or a friend.

Bags of non-perishable food items will also be available.

ORUUC hosts this monthly free meal with financial and volunteer support from its own members and friends of the Oak Ridge Jewish Community. Kroger Marketplace donates fresh fruit every month.

Volunteers are always needed to cut vegetables or bake treats at home, prepare the soup, serve guests and pack take-out meals. Last month, volunteers delivered 30 meals to Callaghan Towers, packed another 54 meals to take home and served 31 meals at the church. They also distributed 14 bags of food.

Contact the church office at 483-6761 to connect with Stone Soup team leaders.

ORUUC also welcomes donations to its pantry of non-perishable items, which is open throughout the week for people to stop by and pick up pre-packaged bags of food. Volunteers stock the following items in the pantry: Proteins (canned tuna, chicken, small hot dogs/sausages, beef stew, chili with meat, pasta sauce with meat, peanut butter, legumes); carbohydrates (mac & cheese, ramen noodles, pasta, rice, cracker packets and jelly containers); green vegetables (green beans, peas, greens, etc. If greens are not available, corn, carrots, mixed vegetables and vegetable soups are recommended); Soups and cracker packets, canned fruit (zip-top cans are highly valued, as are any ready-to-eat foods).

Donations can be dropped off during church office hours – Monday to Friday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. – or on Sundays. Thank you for helping us keep the pantry open for those in need in our community!

Oak Ridge Unitarian Universalist Church is located at 809 Oak Ridge Turnpike, near traffic light #2. All are welcome…always!