How
Many Come?
The number of
sandwiches is an estimate. In good weather we serve about
100 people at lunch, and another 30 as we walk
up main street.
In the rain,
and on first Sundays, when people have received checks,
we serve forty to sixty.
Winter worship
with the sun shining brings out 50-60,
while a cold and wet day may mean 40. Of course the
cold also makes people hungrier, so having a third
sandwich is a treat.
Many people
choose two sandwiches when we have plenty.
WHERE
AND WHEN?
Deliver lunch
Sunday afternoon by 12:15 to the plaza behind city
hall on Front Street in Worcester. (Park on Front Street
in Winter, Franklin Street in Summer.)
While we don't eat until about 1:00 it really
helps your group if we can tell you about set-up at 12:15.
And it helps us get organized!
We hope that
some members of your group will share lunch and worship.
If you are bringing a large group, make extra sandwiches.
The ministry is about sharing and we expect participants
to eat with our congregation.
LUNCH
ONE AND TWO
Lunch
ONE is 60 sandwiches and snacks (plus one for each member
of your team). Please bag and label the lunches.
If you
can bring a cooler with juice or hot chocolate, and cups
to serve, that is great. (Let us know!) Other optional
items listed below are welcome.
Lunch
TWO is another sixty sandwiches and snacks (plus one
for each member of your team). Please bag and label the
lunches. Other optional items listed below are welcome.
OPTIONAL
ADDITIONAL ITEMS
Perishable
Snacks: Homemade
cookies, brownies, and other perishable snacks are
a treasure. These are not required, but are widely
appreciated! Bring NO MORE than one for each sandwich
made. Put these in the bags.
Fruit:
Fruit is very popular. Bananas, peaches, pears, berries,
oranges, tangerines, etc. Also containers of applesauce
or fruit compote... don't forget spoons! Apples are difficult
to eat. Bring about 1 fruit item for every 2 sandwhiches.
Leave these outside the lunch bag.
Hard-Boiled
Eggs: Soft and nutritous, these are very popular.
Decorated, they make every Sunday about resurrection!
Just 4 dozen eggs expands lunch beautifully, but
we can use as much as 1 egg for every sandwich. Leave
these outside the lunch bag.
Unperishable
Snacks: Chips, nutri-grain bars, store bought cookies
packages of crackers & peanut butter or assorted
crackers can be inexpensively bought
in bulk packages at BJs, Sam, etc., and are especially
handy because we save extras for a week when we are
short on sandwiches. In general choose items that are
soft and chewy; many of our congregation do not have
good teeth. Put one in each bag, if you bring extra
keep them separate. We often save these for another
week when we have unexpectedly large crowds.
Drinks: We
use about two cans of powdered fruit juice mix a week
when it is warm, and two cans of instant hot chocolate
when it is cold. If you bring a can we'll use it the
next week. And CUPS!
Socks: There
seems to be no limit to the number of socks we can
use. It would be great to have at least 100 pair every
week-but we could easily hand out 200. White, new, men's
and women's sport socks. Crew are great in the summer,
longer ones in the winter. If you have time, unbag the
socks and fold each pair into a bundle. Limit smaller
sizes to 10% of the total, consider buying a few packages
of very large socks.
Hats, Gloves,
Scarves: These are popular items all winter long.
Tight knit and dark colors seem to be the preference.
Leather work gloves are popular as well. No children's
sizes needed, and very limited women's sizes.
Underwear: We
hand out single pairs of mens and women's underwear
if it is requested. Please bring these separately from
socks; we have a volunteer who organizes sizes and
bags these items for a future week.
PLEASE NOTE: We
do not have a clothing ministry. Please do not bring
clothing to worship. The
Corner Shop in Holden is a supporter of our ministry,
and provides clothing for our parishioners in need, and
we'd love if you donated your clothing there.
Miscellaneous
Larger Items: Hand Cleaner: we need a large container
for worship every quarter or so.
Powdered fruit punch
mix: we make 5 gallons each warm Sunday. Powdered Hot Chocolate
Mix: 5 gallons per winter Sunday.
Cups: we use 100-120
per week, cold in summer, hot cups in winter.
Pizza:
for about 10 people on second sundays at 4pm.
Old Umbrellas!
We leave them out when it looks like it might rain.
Other Individual
Items to hand out: Gifts
for holidays: we've given out red scarves for pentecost,
colored eggs for easter, soft candy bars for Christmas.
Creative ideas welcome!
Bus Tokens are really needed! Dunkin Donuts cards or McDonald's
Gift Certificates in the summer give access to the bathroom
while the library is closed.
Individual sized hand sanitizer is very popular.
