By Mary Ircink, parish nurse

Fellowship time is an opportunity to connect with your church family.  If you stood in the middle of the room you might hear, "Good Morning!  Welcome to Memorial!î" Or, "How was your week?  How is your sister doing?"  Sharing joys and concerns over a cup of coffee and a bite to eat will always be an important Sunday morning connection.  It is an extension of the communion we share during worship service.

Keeping in mind the importance of fellowship time and health of the congregation, the Adult Programming Committee and the Health Ministry Committee wanted to explore ideas for healthy food options during fellowship time.  As always it was important to hear your opinion, so we had a fellowship survey during the month of May. After reviewing the survey results and having discussions, representatives from both committees presented the church council with suggested options.

The council voted to continue having donuts for hosts as a fellowship option on the 1st and 5th Sundays of the month.  The hosts will pay for the donuts and may also bring some other options.  The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Sundays will not have donuts available.  Families who sign up for fellowship time on those three other Sundays will be encouraged to bring food items that will be listed on a fellowship list that was organized from the survey.  Many of these items have already been brought by hosts during previous fellowship times during the summer months or as additional items with donuts. As always, all hosts will also continue to provide juice and half and half.  Memorial UCC will continue to provide coffee, sugar, napkins and plates.

The committees hope that when you plan your food choices that you keep in mind that this is not a brunch or meal!  Small quantities of healthy food are encouraged thus decreasing the left over or food waste that can happen.   It is recommended that healthy choices are also simple without elaborate preparation.

Please watch for the new fellowship handout with suggested food choices.  There will also be more details about those choices in the August newsletter.

In the mean time, thank you to everyone that helps to make fellowship one of the many important times to gather with friends of Memorial!