Middletown Church Ends Sunday Lunch Program

MIDDLETOWN, CT — First Church in Middletown’s role in the Sunday Lunch program came to an end on Aug. 29.

The program, which started last September, will be rolled into the services of St. Vincent de Paul Middletown.

Read more from the news release below:

The Food Insecurity Team was formed in February, 2020, we have accomplished the following:

We donated $5,000 to the Community Renewal Team (CRT) to help replace a “Meals on Wheels” van that was damaged in an accident and we spent $36,012 on the Sunday Lunch program, which provided meals to residents at the Eddy Shelter and YMCA for 72 consecutive Sundays starting April 26, 2020 through August 29, 2021. The funding for these activities came from the church’s Vision Fund ($25,000) and donations from many individuals and organizations ($15,660).

The Sunday Lunch program would not have been possible without our key partners:

• Nearly 30 restaurants who provided 80 meals each week (see list below)
• Chu Ngo, owner of Lan Chi’s Vietnamese Restaurant who provided all the coordination between First Church and the participating restaurants.
• Therese Nivison, Allison Plous, and Lyn Shaw, our meal delivery volunteers who picked up the meals and delivered them every Sunday.
• Organizations that supported the Sunday Lunch program including Liberty bank, Holy Trinity Church, Community Health center, Rotary Club of Middletown, and Third Congregational Church.
• 60-70 individual donors.

Participating Restaurants in Middletown:

The Whey Stationery

La Boca

China King

Hachi

Moonlight

Nino’s

Illiano’s

Thai Garden

O’Rourkes

Brew Bakers

Esca

Café 56

Fiores

Forbidden City

Sweet Harmony Mondo’s

Vero Cucino Rustico

Jerry’s Pizza

Herd

Carmela’s

Asian Restaurant

Taino’s

Perk on Main

Relish 670

Neon Deli

Lan Chi

Typhoon

We are proud to be in a city that cares so much for its citizens and worked so well together to meet the challenges of this pandemic. We encourage everyone to continue supporting these restaurants and we hope the end is near for food insecurity in our community.