Community outreach dinner continues
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When Sharon Rosenbaum and Shirley McDonald heard that the communities of St. Ignatius and Polson served free meals once a week, they thought it would be a good idea to organize a similar weekly dinner in Ronan. As active members of the United Methodist Church, they felt it would be a wonderful mission for the local area churches. Sharon and Shirley approached the idea with then UMC pastor Karen McCrea. Pastor McCrea thought this was a wonderful idea and agreed that their church would participate.
Shirley then personally contacted each church in Ronan and Pablo. Seven of those Churches agreed to join with the Methodist Church. Some of the churches that did not join were already committed to other local missions and did not want to spread their memberships too thin.
Pastor Rand Drollman of Faith Lutheran Church graciously offered his church for the organizational meetings. Representatives from the eight churches came together to form the Shepherd’s Table, named by Norma Granley from Faith Lutheran Church.
It was decided that the Mission Valley Senior Center would be a nice facility for serving the dinners. After a series of meetings with the board members from the senior center, they graciously agreed to rent their facility to the Shepherd’s Table for a minimal rental fee in comparison to the amount they normally charge for the use of their lovely building. I must say here how very grateful we are for the generosity of the Mission Valley Senior Citizens. The use of their building is a huge blessing to our mission.
As plans for the dinners began to fall into place, we made flyers, and Shirley began to distribute them to the other churches, local businesses, schools, and area bulletin boards. Michael Delgado of St. Paul Lutheran Church purchased a sandwich board sign from Dan Roullier of Rocky Mountain Sign Works. Community Bank allows us to place the sign on their corner of Main Street and U.S. Highway 93. Each Tuesday morning, Shirley picks up the sign and places it on the corner.
During the two years that we have been serving the Shepherd’s Table, we have lost one of the charter churches, so each month one church serves the meal alone. Also during months with five Tuesdays, three churches serve alone. Many of those who attend the Shepherd’s Table each week make generous donations. These donations are divided by the churches that serve that particular night. Each church then uses the donations for items related to the Shepherd’s Table, such as paying the senior center for rent and purchasing paper products, cleaning supplies and food items for the dinners. My church has a very small congregation, so I often use our donations to purchase the meat or main course on the nights that we serve the meal alone.
We invite all community members to join us on Tuesdays from 5 to 7 p.m. for a delicious meal, wonderful fellowship and on occasion, entertainment. We would also invite any other churches to join with these seven churches that are honored to serve our community as the Shepherd’s Table: The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints - Ronan Ward, Faith Lutheran Church, Mission Valley United Methodist Church, Sacred Heart Parish, Seventh Day Adventist Church, St. Paul Lutheran Church and The Ronan Christian Church.
