Lunch Bunch

Lunch Bunch

Every Thursday morning a group of volunteers gather at the HopeLink Service Center in Carnation. This is an unusual group because it is one of the longest-lasting ecumenical groups in the Snoqualmie Valley. Fourteen years ago, a letter went out to all the service organizations in the Valley inviting them to a meeting. The purpose of the meeting was to consider a ministry of hospitality to the people who come each week to the Food Bank. Four organizations sent representatives to that first meeting: Tolt Congregational Church and St. Anthony Catholic Church in Carnation, Fall City Methodist Church, and Holy Innocents Church in Duvall. Those four groups are still involved 19 years later. They call themselves the Lunch Bunch.

Each week the volunteers serve lunch to between 50 and 90 people. They never know exactly how many will show, but it works out that there is enough for all. In January 2002 they served 323 meals, an average of 65 a week. They always have two entrées, sandwiches, salad, and dessert.

The first week of the month is Holy Innocents’ week. Currently, parishioner Adele Rainville and  plan and shop for the lunch menu. In addition, Holy Innocents donates $40 a month to the overhead of the Lunch Bunch project as do the other 3 churches. Much of that money goes for non-food supplies such as paper and plastic items. In the early years, Lunch Bunch also received funding from the Archdiocesan Rice Bowl collection (collected every Lent). There used to be funding from King County in the beginning years as well.

Volunteers from all the churches come together and prepare the meal. On the first Thursday in February, the menu was lasagna, curried lentil soup, garlic bread, green salad, two kinds of sandwiches (egg or meat), and dessert. The word is that everyone looks forward to the first week of the month because Holy Innocents has some of the best recipes! The other churches take a different Thursday a month to organize a meal.

Some other supporters of this ministry are the Carnation QFC (salad and soup ingredients), Stock Pot Soups in Redmond, Carnation Starbucks (pastries), and the Carnation Senior Center. They also are able to use food from the Food Bank such as bread and other staples. St. Anthony Church has a “Tuna Drive” each February which supplies Lunch Bunch with enough tuna for a year.
One of the side benefits of this outreach ministry is the chance to get to know other Christians in the Valley. The volunteers grow together in mutual support of each other and each other’s churches.
Patty and Beth would welcome any Holy Innocents parishioners who might be interested in participating in the Lunch Bunch ministry. It would be good to have a couple of more parishioners involved.