WEYBURN – A weekly program by Weyburn’s churches to provide a hot meal on Sundays will resume in person in Sunday, Nov. 6, at 5 p.m., to be held each week until March of 2023.
The meals program had to be modified during the COVID pandemic, as in-person gatherings were not possible, and the meals were delivered to those who wanted them.
“We’re going back to the format that we initially started with, where we served meals to people gathered at Knox Hall,” said coordinator John Smith, pastor of the Weyburn Church of Christ.
He explained the original purpose for the meals was to provide an opportunity for people to sit down together and socialize, and have conversations, something that had to be put on hold during the pandemic.
Having the meals delivered, especially when things were locked down and gatherings were not allowed, helped fill a need as people weren’t able to go out.
The meals will be held every Sunday at 5, with the exceptions of Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, which both fall on a Sunday this year.
With the return to in-person meals at the hall, the meal deliveries will no longer be provided, added Smith.
“There are some who come who don’t cook for themselves at home, so we do send extra portions home with those people,” he said, adding they will also come and pick up anyone who has transportation issues and wouldn’t be able to come to the hall otherwise.
“If someone came to pick up a meal to go, we would provide them,” he added. “But our main focus is seeing people come and eat together and share time together.”
He and his wife Jane are the main coordinators for the program, along with Barb Hudson and others from Knox Presbyterian.
As was the case before, the churches will be rotating and taking turns being in charge of each week’s meal.
Knox Presbyterian and Grace United churches will work together; St. Vincent de Paul Roman Catholic Church will participate, and Zion Lutheran and the Weyburn Free Methodist Church will be working together.
The Church of Christ will work with Calvary Baptist, and there are other churches who have indicated they will contribute food or volunteers, such as Wheatland Community Church.
“It was a lot of work to do it the way we did it during the pandemic,” said Smith, noting they were helped by the fact that the other programs and activities the churches used to do had to be put on hold for the past couple of years.
“As they’ve gradually reopened things, we’re getting back to a lot of those activities. It was nice the volunteers felt very fulfilled in being able to do something, like the delivery of meals. It was a valuable way at the time to meet that need,” he said, noting at the recent meeting to plan for this coming season, the churches had a consensus that they wanted to return to the in-person meals at the hall.
While each church or group of churches are in charge of the meal for their turn, there are some expenses for the program, such as to provide coffee and tea at the hall, and to provide take-out boxes for those needing to take food home.
If anyone would like to donate to the meals program, or if they have any further questions about it, or if someone needs transportation to Knox Hall, they can call or text Smith on his cell at 306-891-4123.
“We’re looking forward to seeing people in the hall and getting together for a meal again,” he said.
