KING’S KITCHEN
As part of the Social Concerns Ministry, King’s Kitchen is a wonderful program that helps and support people that by any or other circumstance are less fortunate and cannot afford a meal.
King's Kitchen-2King’s Kitchen is a combine social program that Immaculate Conception with other two local Christian Churches run this great program in town giving a hand to the most vulnerable.
Our parish participates in King’s Kitchen every third and fourth Saturday of the month. The team which is led by Mrs. Agnes Bowman meet at the church cafeteria to assemble meals.
Meals are prepared by the volunteers at their own home. All the cooking ingredients are purchased by the volunteers. There is a delivery crew who takes the meals to the senior homes and private residences according to the list that is provided to them.
In addition to Saturday charity service, King’s Kitchen gets together to prepare meals for Thanksgiving Day and Christmas. The program receives donations from several local Delis and Restaurants owner that donate the main dishes. The team prepares deserts and side dishes. If there is a leftover will be delivered to Homeless Shelter in Hoboken, Hackensack and Fairview.
In addition to the donations that restaurants and local delis give us, we also receive donations from some parishioners and the Knights of Columbus from time to time. Most of the time the donations are in anonymity and the cash that is donated the the team coordinator will use to buy the food that volunteers will need to prepare the meals.
King’s Kitchen helps and supports many people not only in Secaucus but also outside town. The primordial principle of this program is to apply the Gospel message of our Lord Jesus to feed the hungry, help the needy, and support those in need.
In ICC, there are two teams: one for the third Saturday, coordinated by Susan Gregory, and the other for the fourth Saturday, coordinated by our chairperson of social concerns, Agnes Bowman, who has volunteered for King’s Kitchen since the 1990s.
All the volunteers are people from town; some are the parishioners of Immaculate Conception, others from Our Savior Church and The Reformed Church. Agnes started as a temporary fill-in and now describes her experience as a blessing for her and the whole family. She said, “Although my family didn’t sign up for King’s Kitchen, it ended up being a family event before you knew it.”
She enjoys doing it and knows that her work out of love will help and support somebody. Through this volunteer work, she has been experiencing the message of our Lord Jesus, which invites us to serve others and to experience love, compassion, and mercy.
King’s Kitchen always needs volunteers and donations. Remember that there is greater joy when we give out of love than when we receive. Receiving is good, but the joy is better when we give.
If you are interested in being part of King’s Kitchen,
please contact:Mrs. Bowman at agnesbowman10@aol.com
The Gospel of Matthew tells us: As evening approached,
the disciples came to Jesus and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Bring them here to me,” he said. Jesus directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Volunteers
Neal McGarity
Knights of Columbus
Pat Foley
Robert Rivest
Sandy Walsh
Diana McLaughlin
Gladys and Louis Tous
John Regan
Michelle Eckert
Barbara Purcell