JANESVILLE — In an effort to boost community meal outreach in Janesville, Faith Community Church has constructed a commercial kitchen, that is now serving home-cooked meals to residents from 4:30-6 p.m. every Tuesday.
Faith Community Church invites the community to an open house and ribbon-cutting ceremony for its newly renovated facilities from 4-6 p.m.Friday, July 26, at 2931 Lucerne Drive. Guests can enjoy brats and soft-serve ice cream. Additions also include a counseling room, an extended parking lot and the front courtyard.
The church was originally at the location that is now the AmericInn by Wyndham in Janesville before starting phase one of building its current location in 1998.
Over the years, renovation continued in 2003, 2008 and 2015, when staff was able to transfer in. The fifth phase will be complete this year as the courtyard gets wrapped up and the sanctuary widens for more guests. Currently, there are four services in Janesville and three services in South Beloit, Illinois, at Faith Community Stateline, 1401 Blackhawk Blvd.
Rick Lowry and his late wife Jennifer Lowry started the “Feed Your Soul” ministry at First United Methodist Church in Fort Atkinson in 2008.
“The mission is to nourish people in need, feeding the soul with God’s word and the body with a home-cooked meal,” Lowry said. The Fort Atkinson location has served more than 82,000 meals in 16 years. The first meal was served in Janesville on May 14. Guests reserve meals at feedyoursoulwi.com. The number of meals per family is not restricted.
“We give them a meal and a message. We try to create a relationship with them and give prayer, if needed, and talk to them about the word of God and tell them that there is hope. The vehicle we’re using is a home-cooked meal. We don’t want to give them fast food. By creating a relationship with them, we hope to find out what’s going on in their family and see what we can do for them if they’re interested. The church has many programs for social and economical issues,” Lowry said.
Founding Pastor Jeff Williams of Faith Community reached out to Lowry in 2019 and asked to learn more about his ministry.
“I said, ‘Hey, do you think you can bring that to Janesville?’ and we started brainstorming about how to make that possible because obviously there’s more people in Janesville. We knew we would need a commercial kitchen and started planning immediately, and now it’s here and operational,” Williams said.
In a capital campaign from 2020 to 2024, $2 million was raised. The kitchen cost $500,000.
The ministry relies on volunteers and donations.
“Please volunteer if you want. We are 100% volunteer based,” Lowry said, adding that Jones Dairy Farm in Fort Atkinson is the lead donor. “They have donated time, energy, food and funds.”
Middleby from Chicago donated much of the professional equipment found in the kitchen, Lowry said.
The commercial kitchen includes a 10-burner cook top; four smart ovens; a steamer; three refrigerators; three freezers; a commercial soft-serve machine; a high-volume, low temperature dishwasher; two hand-washing stations; a food-washing station; and a walk-in pantry. There are also secure lockers for volunteers to store personal items as they cook. There are signs in both English and Spanish. Each volunteer must wear hairnets, beard nets and gloves.
“Food safety is paramount,” Lowry said. Congregation members also made homemade aprons for volunteers.
Meals were originally provided in house in Fort Atkinson, but after COVID-19 proliferated, meals began being served to families in cars to take home. Meals are still served by this meethod today.
At Faith Community Church, there is a drive-thru that wraps around the building for cars to line up and receive their food.
“Cars will line up all the way into the street and then be on their way,” Williams said.
Fort Atkinson typically serves 200 meals a week, and Janesville serves nearly 300 a week. With the Janesville kitchen, the ministry has potential to serve 1,000 meals a week, Lowry said.
Tuesday night, nearly 200 people received meals in Janesville and more than 150 people signed up in Fort.
“A lot of people ask about the homeless folks because they don’t have cars. Well, we physically bring meals to them each week,” Williams said. Volunteers take at least 40 meals per trip to homeless people around Beloit and Janesville.
“We’re still working on transportation to get people here who need rides, but we’ll get there. Things just take time,” Williams said.
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