Commentary by Brad Thompson
Giving doesn’t have to be complicated. A group from Zionsville United Methodist Church goes to Fletcher Place Community Center, near Fountain Square, twice a month to scramble eggs, bake frozen muffins and warm canned gravy for breakfast. It’s not complicated, but it warms and fills the stomachs of community residents in a way that is much-appreciated.
Fletcher Place Community Center is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, and Methodist churches from around central Indiana take turns each month cooking breakfast or dinners so at least one meal is served each of the five weekdays. Roughly 70 neighborhood residents come for the meal in a historic building that used to be a Masonic lodge. The second floor of the lodge, once used for dances, now serves as a banquet room.
On the lower level, the community center offers preschool and runs a thrift shop and food pantry in the basement. ZUMC members take some of the food down to the preschoolers to make sure they have healthy snacks, typically a fruit cup. They take leftover food to the food pantry.
ZUMC is always looking for volunteers, and this ministry operates outside of the church’s budget, depending on community contributions. The volunteers cook food purchased with donations. For more, go to zumc.org/locally.
(Photos by Brad Thompson)
