Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters, you did for me. (Matthew 25:40)
Montclair Emergency Services for Hope has returned to Grace!
On Saturday, March 6, Grace opened its doors once again to provide on-site services for our MESH guests, for whom we provide food and comfort. The MESH team of volunteers (Joan DeJong, Irene Rottenberg, Len Smith, and Kem Mackey) is grateful and feels blessed for the support of the Session and Grace members and staff who worked together and helped resolve a number of critical issues to make the Fellowship Room available. The team sends heartfelt thanks to John Ashbrook, Werner Heck, Bob Roe, Kurt Saunders, and Nick Wallwork for their active participation. In addition to the obvious COVID and health concerns, the Fellowship Room itself was under construction, and it was no easy task to put this in place — all in a timely manner.
Each Saturday, since March 2020, the MESH Café has been a very different experience. We continued to work with The Presbyterian Church of Upper Montclair, Christ Church, and the Glen Ridge Girls Club during this time. The food was dropped off at Grace where the MESH team would pack up meals in take-away containers to service our guests, outside in the Salvation Army parking lot. We have been able to continue offering our guests a variety of travel-sized toiletries, donated by volunteers, members, and friends of Grace. Our guests continued to be grateful to see us ready to serve. We often reflected on the blessings we all experience being able to serve these special guests.
Now, once again, we can be back home at Grace in the Fellowship Room. The realities of COVID are still with us: all meals (about forty, including four vegetarian) are prepared by the MESH team in take-away containers ; we are able to serve twelve to fourteen guests at a time on site, while other meals are picked up and eaten off site. Our first night back in Grace (March 6) went smoothly, with guests grateful for on-site meals provided.
We ask that you all will keep our MESH guests in your prayers, that they may be nourished through Grace’s commitment to them, and that they also find a warm place to rest, a kind word spoken to them, and a smile shared from passersby; also that you may be blessed as well.
Blessings,
Joan DeJong, Kem Mackey, Irene Rottenberg, Len Smith.
[Your MESH team needs you to help by preparing meals on May 29 and July 31 — both fifth Saturdays. Contact any member of Grace’s MESH team for more details. In anticipation, your help is greatly appreciated!]
