October 20, 2014 at 3:52 p.m.
Harvest Dinner helps fill the Personal Essentials Pantry
Harvest Dinner helps fill the Personal Essentials Pantry
"It's a harvest meal, so it's a lot like having Thanksgiving dinner a month early," Reverend Rebecca Neal Niese said. "We've been doing it for many, many years. The money used to go into the church budget, but now it goes beyond the church and supports the Personal Essentials Pantry which is a ministry out of this church but is for the whole community."
Much like the Rhinelander Area Food Pantry offers nutritious food to those in need, the Personal Essentials Pantry makes sure people have all of the toiletry and other personal items they need.
"Soap, shampoo, paper towels, things like that to keep both your home and your body clean," Niese said.
"We have that open twice a month. It's the last Saturday of every month and the second Monday of every month for those that are low income."
It's not uncommon for only parishioners to show up for a function at a particular church but that's not the case with the Harvest Dinner. People from all over the community come to support the pantry which is a sight that warms Niese's heart.
"It's so fun because there's a lot of church people here, but there's also a lot of community people that come to join us. We get phone calls up to a month beforehand each year with people asking if we're doing the dinner again. It's really neat," she said.
"It's really grown to have a great reputation, which is amazing to see. It's a wonderful feeling to see everyone come together, whether you go to the church or not, to enjoy a meal and help out a great cause."
Anyone interested in donating to the pantry should call the church office at (715) 362-2091.
Marcus Nesemann may be reached at [email protected].
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