Dear Bethel Congregation:

The Fellowship Committee will continue the tradition of holding Fellowship Lunches in the church basement throughout 2024.  To make these lunches a success, we need your help.  Each adult member of Bethel has been assigned to a work group to help with the arrangements for each lunch.  This document outlines the responsibilities and expectations for work group members.  The groups are formed alphabetically by last name as follows:

Last names A-E: Carmen McKenna’s Work Group

Last names F-R: Michele Martzke’s Work Group

Last names S-Z: Bonnie Meyer’s Work Group

Please make a reasonable effort to send at least 1 adult member of each family to help with set-up, and/or serving, and/or clean-up.  All adult members of the congregation are now included in the work groups and invited to participate; however, I’d like to add some caveats:

1.       If your particular situation prevents you in any way from participating, we understand.  No one is being forced to help.  We are not asking folks who are physically unable to perform the duties of a lunch volunteer or who are otherwise unable to participate to show up to work. 

2.       Non-member adults are also invited to volunteer!  If you are a non-member college student, a regular attendee, or even a visitor, you are also more than welcome to help when your name comes up in the rotation.  To volunteer, you can come to the kitchen on the day of the lunch to be assigned a task. 

If this is new to you, your work group leader will be in contact with you and will be able to answer questions and provide more details about what to expect.  Volunteers are needed before the service, during the Sunday school hour, during the lunch, and after the lunch.  Lunch volunteers are typically asked by their work group leaders to help in the following ways:

·       Check-in dishes brought to the kitchen before the morning worship service

·       Set tables with place settings

·       Wash dishes

·       Load dishwashers

·       Fill water pitchers

·       Carry items, such as full water pitchers, from the kitchen to the seating tables

·       Warm dishes in warming ovens

·       Toss salads

·       Cut desserts

·       Carry dishes/slow cookers to the buffet tables

Lunches typically occur on the second Sunday of most months at 12:00 pm after the Sunday school hour, except in May, when it will be on the third Sunday (due to Mother’s Day).  There will be 8 fellowship lunches in 2024 as follows:

·       January: NO LUNCH

·       February 11: Bonnie Meyer’s Group

·       March: NO LUNCH

·       April 14: Carmen McKenna’s Group

·       May 19: Michele Martzke’s Group

·       June 9: Carmen McKenna’s Group

·       July 14: Michele Martzke’s Group

·       August: NO LUNCH

·       September 8: Bonnie Meyer’s Group

·       October 13: Carmen McKenna’s Group

·       November 10: Bonnie Meyer’s Group

·       December: NO LUNCH

Everyone who attends the lunches should plan to bring an entrée that serves 12-15 people and either a dessert or salad, per our usual practice.  We also ask that you “check in” each dish as you drop it off at the kitchen before the service.  Please see the announcements in the Bethel Press, on Bethel Highway, and in the Bethel Weekly email for specific details.

All lunch attendees are asked to help with some of the clean-up efforts after each lunch.  The clean-up jobs will be as simple as clearing plates, wiping tables, bringing silverware to the wash bins, and putting away tables and chairs.