Cheryl Anderson
One Sunday about three months ago, a homeless man went up to the teen manning the after-worship snack table at The Core in downtown Appleton and asked for a Ziploc bag. She obliged then watched the man dump a bowl of cookies in the bag, as well as grab a box of tea.
When the teen told the Rev. Jim "Ski" Skorzewski about what had happened, the pastor knew there had to be a story behind it. The story continued three weeks after that incident with three guys who waited after Sunday worship to talk to Skorzewski.
"They just kind of poured their heart out to me about bad choices they made in their lives … and one of the guys who was crying says, 'We love being here, but we have dinner at the shelter at 5:30 on Sundays. So we have to decide, 'Are we going to eat dinner or are we going to come here?' I said, 'I would eat dinner.' He said, 'What you don't understand is this is the one place we hear hope and are treated like real people.'"
Skorzewski said he cried all the way home that night, and soon gathered the leaders at The Core, who came up with a plan to serve dinners at 4 p.m. before worship.
"When you're in ministry, you usually want to help with the physical needs first and then apply the spiritual," said Tom Medema, who serves on the executive board at The Core and is a member of Mount Olive Lutheran Church in Appleton.
"These people were foregoing their meals to come to church. Where have you heard that happen before? That just touched all of us, including myself. It makes you want to do something, and we did."
"We don't do dinners because of the homeless people," Skorzewski said. "We do dinners because it's a great way to bring people together and it just happens there's a need."
Skorzewski said those who attend the meal also are expected to stay for the service.
What began as small-group ministries at The Core rotating to fund and prepare a meal has grown to include members who want to pitch in to feed the 150 to 160 people who attend, which includes 30 to 40 people from the Fox Valley Warming Shelter and the Emergency Shelter of the Fox Valley who come for dinner and stay for worship.
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GJ - It takes a strong man to read this without bursting into laughter.
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Sent via anonymous email:
Regarding your infantile comment after the Core Dinner article you posted this morning, I can only respond in the words of Buzz Lightyear: "You are a sad, strange little man and you have my pity."
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GJ - That sounds like one of Buzz Lightyear's fans.
