Free Christmas meals offered by area faith communities

Resurrection Lutheran Church in St. Joseph plans to continue its holiday tradition of hosting a free Christmas meal on Saturday.

All are welcome to partake in the annual event, which will be held from 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. at the church at 610 Stearns CR 2.

The Rev. John Gabrielson said, “Holidays are a good time to be around our neighbors and to share the love of Christ with them, and if we can do that over a meal, all the better.”

The interim associate pastor of Resurrection Lutheran Church said meals will even be delivered to those without transportation in select areas with the help of volunteers.

“There will be home deliveries – we are hoping mostly to be able to serve folks who are homebound, whether it’s in their own home or in a care facility,” Gabrielson said.

The free meal includes servings of turkey, ham, potatoes and corn to anyone while supplies last. Volunteers will deliver meals within a 15-mile radius of St. Joseph.

“We’ll try to accommodate people if we can, but I can’t make any guarantees how far our volunteers are willing to drive,” Gabrielson said of meal deliveries.

Last year’s event at the St. Joseph church attracted almost a hundred people, Gabrielson said.

“The amount of food we get from year to year varies. Last year, I don’t think we had quite as much in terms of turkey and ham … but we were very, very fortunate this year. We had some lovely donations: turkeys and some cash from local businesses,” he said.

Gabrielson said business donations for Saturday’s free meal was down “a little bit” this year compared to last year.

“A private individual who had a ton of turkeys leftover helped us out. And whatever we have left at the church, we’re not planning on saving it,” he said of meal deliveries.

The Church of St. Joseph hosted a free Thanksgiving meal, but SonRise Lutheran Church will also host a free Christmas meal at Avon City Hall, according to Gabrielson.

“It’s part of our tradition; Jesus had an open table, so you hear in the Gospel he would eat with anybody – a drunkard, a friend and sinners – and so we just want to try and imitate that a little bit,” Gabrielson said.

Call 320-363-4232 for more information about having a volunteer deliver a Christmas meal, which is sponsored by the Church of St. Joseph, Resurrection Lutheran Church, Gateway Church, St. Benedict’s Monastery, College of St. Benedict Community Kitchen and Central Minnesota Catholic Worker.

For more information about Saturday’s event, call 320-316-3290 or email Gabrielson at jgabrielson@rlcstjoe.com.