Important Thanksgiving Meal Update

Many of you know that the site of our annual Free Community Thanksgiving Meal was sold in 2023. The new owners graciously honored our contract after the sale, so that we could still hold last year’s Thanksgiving Meal.

After many months of evaluation, prayer, and investigating other locations, partnerships and possibilities, CTR’s Senior Leadership Team and our Thanksgiving planning team have come to the conclusion that Christ The Rock will discontinue the Thanksgiving Meal.

The factors that led us to evaluate the Thanksgiving Meal were practical in nature, including:

• The Grand Meridian (our former event location) closed and was sold, and the other large facilities in the Valley have also closed in the past two years.
• We lost our faithful head Chef, who moved due to the closure, and is no longer available to run the meal (which was essential for food safety for 3,200+ meals).
• The overall cost had almost doubled from years past due to the increase in food costs. We wondered if those funds could be used in a more sustainable way than just one meal on one day.

Meanwhile, just from February-August 2024, the number of people using Christ The Rock’s Food Pantry has more than doubled. Most Tuesdays, we have a line extending well outside the doors – local adults and families who need assistance having enough to eat each week, and who need to know that the family of God sees their need and loves them.

We remain committed to serving those who are hungry in the Fox Valley, knowing that we serve Jesus when we serve our neighbors. As Matthew 25:35 reminds us: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.”  In the future, we will be reallocating resources that would have gone toward the Thanksgiving Meal to serve our increasing numbers of weekly Food Pantry clients.

Need help with food?

If you need help with food, or if you’d like to help local adults, kids and families who are facing hunger, click here to find out about Christ The Rock’s Food Pantry.

Questions?

Call Christ The Rock Community Church: 920.730.8383.

Thank you . . .

for more than two decades of helping fulfill Jesus’ commands to feed the hungry, visit with those who are lonely, and love our neighbors as ourselves through the Free Community Thanksgiving Meal.

We appreciate every volunteer and donor who has helped this gift to our community possible for so many years!