Grace Cafe
LET’S SHARE A MEAL TOGETHER AT GRACE CAFE
AUTHOR: LARRY GALLAS
I’ve heard it said that the best way to get to know a person is to share a meal. Nine years ago, we started a ministry called Grace Café where we would provide a restaurant-quality meal at an affordable price in a setting conducive to fellowship. Since then, we have fed almost 20,000 meals and have kept the price at the same $5 per person that it was back in 2016.
When the idea began, we knew that it would take a talented and dedicated person to be our kitchen team lead. Linda Baughman became that person because of her experience in the industry and her creative ways of making tasty and affordable meals. Linda has served faithfully since Grace Café began and a key person right at her side has been Susan Thomas. Susan is our key volunteer who plans and makes most of those amazing desserts.
Restaurants serves hundreds of people each day, but we serve lunch to hundreds of people all at once! Our team of volunteers prepares and serves a meal for nearly 100 people after the first service and 220 people after the second service. It truly takes a village of volunteers to feed a church! I am so grateful for people like Brad Guinn, KatyLynn Morley, Carmen Parkinson, Philip Zacharias, Kathy McCandless, Penny Morris, Michael and Jocelyn Marshall, Gerald Reeves, Jim Hawkins (at 92 years young), Joel Satre, Camille Howland, Cindy Blood, David Havens, Brent Large, Gabriela Lopez, Celina Hronik, Gary and Dianne Kuhlman, Van Duitsman, Brad and Marylynn Jordan, Patricia Wilkendorf, Tina Gallas, Vassi Djinov, and so many more who have served over the years!
A typical Grace Café week involves meal planning, ordering food from our commercial food supplier, making grocery store runs, prepping food and making desserts on Saturday, recruiting volunteers to serve on the kitchen and hospitality teams, and arriving bright and early at 8:00 am on Sunday. And we can’t forget our incredible facilities team, Kevin Grogan, Andrew Gallas, and Mitchell Beasecker, who sets everything up for Sunday.
If you’ve never been to Grace Café, I encourage you to come and share a meal with your church family. Nowhere else can a family of four eat a meal with dessert and drinks for only $20 total. If you are a regular, please say thank you to our amazing team of volunteers. If you would like to join our team, please email me at larry@gracearlinton.com.
