The Breaking Bread Dinner Church is preparing for another large holiday meal — an Easter Sunday feast for roughly 300 people who will pick up to-go boxes at the Aaron McNeil House.
Donna Williams, who founded the feeding program in the fall of 2019, is looking for community help from people who are willing to make desserts, vegetables and bread to complement the ham, green beans and sweet potatoes she’ll be preparing.
“They love pie,” Williams said of her regular diners, who come on Thursday afternoons for the weekly meal her ministry serves.
Williams and her volunteers will appreciate anyone who could make a couple of pies, a cake, a cobbler or a sheet of brownies. Side dishes, dinner rolls or cornbread would also help, she said. Donations of bottled water are needed as well.
Originally, Breaking Bread’s weekly meal was served in-person in the small dining room at Aaron McNeil House. Williams, who is a Methodist minister, gave a brief devotional and she and the diners sang a few hymns.
But in-person meals were halted because of the pandemic two years ago. At the same time, the demand for hot, free meals increased as COVID-19 disrupted the economy. Today, even if Williams wanted to resume the Thursday dinner inside Aaron McNeil, there wouldn’t be enough room for everyone. She’s feeding 140 to 160 people every Thursday.
Most of the people Williams serves come to collect meals for a group of regulars. Sometimes it is several people who live in a downtown apartment house or in another area close to Aaron McNeil at Second and Campbell streets.
“Recently, more and more people are taking meals to others,” said Williams, adding she is grateful that local residents in need are helping her extend the reach of the food ministry.
Williams said she’s been able to sustain the effort through the generosity of several donors, including the local Food Lion store that recently awarded a grant to Breaking Bread. Other key donors have included New Work Fellowship, Saint John United Methodist, Mount Vernon Baptist Church, Knights of Columbus at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Mindy Hargrove at Bar-B-Que Shack, Rogers Group and Charlie Henderson’s insurance office.
Anyone who wants to donate prepared food for the Easter meal can drop off their items between 1 and 2 p.m. on Sunday, April 17, at Aaron McNeil House. Volunteers will begin handing out the meals around 2:30 p.m.
Monetary contributions can be sent to Saint John United Methodist Church, 2802 S. Virginia St., Hopkinsville, KY 42240. Donors should note “Dinner Church” in the check memo line. Anyone who wants to serve meals may contact Williams through email at dwilliams945@gmail.com.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
