Effort continues to save meal program; fundraiser Saturday
EMILY - For some people "no" means game over. Not for Gordy and Judy Huff.
The Huffs help operate the Care and Share Cafe meal program at Emily Wesleyan Church. At least they did until last May.
"The state said we have a beautiful facility, it just doesn't meet state standards," Gordy Huff said. In order to resume business as usual, the state has required Emily Wesleyan Church to replace its current kitchen with a commercial system - a renovation that comes with a price tag of $170,000.
Gordy (left) and Judy Huff oversee the the Care and Share weekly food program in Emily. Until they were shut down by the state health department last May, the couple and their volunteer staff served more than 150 individual dinners each week to families in need .
brainerddispatch.com/Sarah Nelson
The Care and Share meals started as a fellowship opportunity geared for Wesleyan church families before Wednesday night services. Soon after it began, Nancy Moritz, the Emily Food Shelf director, contacted Gordy to see if the church would open the meal to the community. At first the program provided bi-weekly meals, but demand quickly required weekly service.
By May, Care and Share was serving 175 meals a week to people from within a 25-mile radius, including delivered meals to 30 elderly adults shut in their homes. Gordy said they expected to hit 300 by the end of summer.
The couple said that while Care and Share is primarily a meal program for needy families, it is much more. "It's not just the food part, it's about the fellowship," Judy said, "It's almost as important to have the social need met as the physical one."
"As far as what they are going to do while we are shut down," Gordy said, "We just don't know." The state health department inspector was unavailable for a comment.
"It's hard to see the good that is being done and now we can't do it for them," Judy added.
Moritz said that 75 percent of those who attend Care and Share are Food Shelf clients of whom 90 percent live at or below the poverty line, including children, single moms and elderly adults. "If it weren't for Care and Share, many of them wouldn't have made it through the winter," she said.
Moritz has worked with the Emily Food Shelf since 1998 and has acted as the director since 2006. Mortiz said the suspension of Care and Share has taken a toll on her regular clients. "People miss it," she said. "The ask me all the time when it's coming back."
Mortiz said she is proud of the partnership that has been forged with the Care and Share Cafe. "We complement each other. What we do goes hand in hand," she said, "Neither of us can do independently what we can do together."
Care and Share proved to be a sustainable source of food to the Emily community with most of its inventory and overhead cost met through donations. Judy Huff said area businesses made donations and much of the food was provided by Second Harvest in Grand Rapids. Second Harvest, Grand Rapids also provides food for the Emily Food Shelf.
Gordy and Judy Huff and their entire staff volunteer their time to operate Care and Share. Gordy has worked as a nurse's aide Cuyuna Regional Medical Center for 18 years and Judy is the produce manager at Lake Country Food in Emily.
During its 12 months of operation, Care and Share served 7,000 meals at a cost of $9,000. "We even had $1,000 left over when were shut down by the state," Judy said.
The cost to meet the state recommendations would be enough to discourage most from even attempting, but Gordy and Judy Huff, along with their volunteer staff, are confident they will raise the funds no matter how creative their fundraising methods become. "It can't just be the church," Gordy said, "It's about the community."
The group has raised $55,000 in the last four months, including $3,000 donated by Crow Wing Electrical Cooperative and $1,000 from Emily Cooperative Telephone Co. "Everything counts," Moritz said. "The faster we get the funds raised and get going again, the more people we can serve."
In an effort to help alleviate some of the cost, community volunteers Denise Hanson and Susie Brannan have organized a community Fall Ride and Pig Roast to be held Saturday at Emily Park. The Huffs said they expect about 250-300 riders to participate and hope raise between $2,000 - $5,000.
In addition to the ride scheduled for this weekend, the Huffs, along with fellow Care and Share organizers, Eric and Tammy Froidceur and Paul and Bobby Flemming, have applied for grant funding through several organizations. While some grant proposals have been denied, the group is hopeful. They will find of the results of grants currently in the application process over the next several weeks.
While Emily Wesleyan Church, a church of 80-100 attending regularly, hosts the cafe, the directors are quick to share ownership of the program they, and their partners, founded last year. "We want it to be a community-based thing," Gordy said. "That's what we're about - the community. And feeding those who really need it."
"It's not just the Wesleyan Care and Share. It's the community Care and Share," Judy said.
No one is certain when Care and Share will return to Emily, but everyone involved is hopeful that someday it will. In order to move forward, the entire kitchen must be replaced with stainless steel appliances, sanitary countertops and adequate storage space according to the maximum number of person served.
Moritz said she hopes to see meals resume by the beginning of 2011. "It's going to take a lot of time and money to get it going again," she said, "but I know we can do it."
SARAH NELSON may be reached at sarah.nelson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5879.