Online Archives

BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

On more than 104 Wednesday evenings, during the past two years, a handful of volunteers at Essex UMC served 10,000 meals to their neighbors in Baltimore County.

At the urging of their pastor, the Rev. Kimberly Brown-Whale, they called the enterprise "Table of Grace" because that's what they wanted their guests to experience. They even had it embroidered on the shirts they all wear when they serve dinner.

But what they discovered, said Pat Rites, is that grace can surprise you. "We weren't just serving. God was blessing us. Every meal we came away changed in some small way."

Rites is not sure she can explain how, so she tells a story instead.

This August, Ann Shindeldecker died. Ann and Marvin, her husband of 59 years, were faithful volunteers. It only made sense that a Table of Grace shirt be tucked away in Ann's coffin. Heaven would no doubt have need of the gifts Ann shared in the church's fellowship hall each week.

The week after she died, Marvin was back in the kitchen. He even made a chocolate cake to share with the guests, some of whom had attended his wife's memorial service.

"You don't expect relationships when you start something like this," said Rites. "But that's what you get. You begin to care and you care pretty deeply. Something happens that can break your heart every Wednesday."

The ministry began as a giveaway of nonperishables. That has grown and continues. Each third Thursday of the month, 10,000 pounds of groceries and produce are distributed to approximately 350 families. But when church members began this effort, the families expressed a need for a hot meal.

"It started out as an absolute loaves and fishes, multiplication thing," said Brown-Whale.

"We just made a pot of chili and opened the doors," said Carol Wehner, one of the Table of Grace's main cooks. "We didn't know what we were doing, but the first week we had 26 people show up, the next week 46, then 60. We could see we were going someplace."

"God never ceases to surprise me," said Brown-Whale. "We would have never dreamed two years ago that we'd be talking about 10,000 meals. It was just a faith step. We said, ‘let's offer it and see what's needed.'"

The church does not have a budget to pay for the ministry, although it does provide the use of the hall and the kitchen. The first month, Brown-Whale said, it cost $7,000 to operate and she knew that wouldn't be sustainable.

"God provided," she said. "It's that simple. Whatever we need somehow arrives. Some days I'm sure we don't have enough food, but no one ever goes hungry."

"We can stretch a pot of soup further than you'd ever imagine," said Wehner.

Wehner, who was born and baptized at Essex UMC, said she feels like the Table of Grace "is the church responding to God's mission for us."

She's not alone. George W. Deares is a regular guest of the Table of Grace. As he waits in line for his dinner, his story spills out.

When he was in the military, many years ago, he stole money from a fellow soldier's Bible. That incident haunted him. Even when he worked as a professional clown named Ducky, he never quite shook the sadness or regret.

He became a church tramp, hopping from congregation to congregation. Eating at the Table of Grace led him to one of Essex's Sunday morning worship services. In the sanctuary, there is a banner that says: "Create in me, O Lord, a clean heart." It's become Deares' mantra.

Some of the other guests have also found their way to worship, but most are just very grateful for a hot, homemade meal.

The Table of Hope feeds about 100 to 140 guests each week, except when they serve crab cakes, and the word goes out among the homeless community, making the numbers swell.

"We're just doing a simple thing here," said Brown-Whale. "We felt we were blessed and we wanted to pass on the blessings. We felt we needed to minister to our neighbors in a concrete way. That's important."

Theon, one of the guests who was named after the King of Sicily cited in the ancient writings of Herodotus, said he could not ask for anything better than what's offered at the Table of Grace.

"This ministry is not just important," he said. "It is imperative."