Elizabeth Lee United Methodist Church Food Program Coordinator Janice Gallaher is launching the King Foods Ministry at ELUMC in Chickamauga.Get fed
To order one or more of the complete meal boxes, or for any questions, call the church at 706-375-2182. Someone on staff is at Elizabeth Lee UMC from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to take orders Monday-Friday. To learn more, visit elumc.com.
In its quest to serve the community, Elizabeth Lee United Methodist Church has partnered with the Angel Food Ministry, then with One Harvest Food Ministry, a partnership that ended in December 2014.
The church is now working with King Foods Ministry to help provide for those in the community in need of food by providing convenient meal boxes for people who can afford to regularly go to the grocery store, but maybe don’t always have the time.
Similar to meal delivery services such as Blue Apron and Plated, each “smart box” sold nets the church $1, which Elizabeth Lee UMC Food Program Coordinator Janice Gallaher said the church hopes to use to purchase boxes for those who can’t afford the food that goes into them, let alone such a service.
“King Foods is a faith based organization offering quality food packages for 40 to 60 percent less than store prices,” she said. “There’s no income requirements for it; it’s open to everybody. You can order as much as you want. There’s no order limits. People can come to the church and place an order.”
The main box costs $42 box and is designed to feed a family of four for a week or a single person for a month, she said.
“There are eight different meats and vegetables and rice and a dessert,” explained Gallaher. “You pay for it when you order it. There are new menus each month, which also include convenience meals, bulk meat specials and kid’s boxes. The food is really good. It’s just like what you would buy at the grocery store.”
The cutoff for the next order date is April 11 and the delivery date is April 23. The first shipment was scheduled to be delivered March 19.
“[King City has] been serving the Ohio Valley and doing well enough that they want to expand into this area,” Gallaher said. “We are hoping we will be able to get a lot of orders and help a lot of people in the community. We need people that can afford to buy it, to buy it. We plan on doing it as long as we can get orders to support it.”
She said she usually goes to school counselors to get names of those in need, adding that DFCS is another good resource.