Sunman area enjoys free meals this summer
Tali Crowe
Sunman Council President Don Foley and Caleb Griffin, work to load up a visitor’s van with pantry items.
Thursday Sunman enjoyed their last Food Truck day of the summer at the Community Park. Each Thursday in July, volunteers from the community teamed up with members of the Church on Fire Ministries (Batesville and Harrison campuses) to provide free hot lunches and pantry packages to anyone who wanted to stop by between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.
Audrey Griffin, a representative from the Harrison Church on Fire campus, said the volunteers from their group were happy to add Sunman to their schedule after hearing from the town of Sunman about wanting to provide something for their community this summer.
There were several repeat customers throughout the month for the meal truck and pantry service, including families, kids from the surrounding neighborhoods and office employees from area businesses.
Lindsey’s Shaved Ice, of Harrison, also set up a booth for free snow cones, which was a popular feature for the kids and adults alike.
On average, 200 pantry packages were provided each week and hundreds of hot meals were served by the team of volunteers, which varied per week. On July 30, members of the East Central High School’s football team helped load up carts and vehicles.
The food truck wasn’t the last act of service Church on Fire provided for their area communities this summer. Friday, July 31, they sponsored Highlighter 2020 at their Batesville campus.
This back-to-school event helped them provide dinner, including dessert, and school supplies for kids starting back to school for the 2020-21 school year. More than 275 backpacks were handed out throughout the evening.
More than 175 children were also given clothing items from So Loved, a free clothing closet organization.
Local businesses – Wendy’s, Huck’s, McDonald’s, The Sherman, Skyline Chili, Batesville Dental and Lindsey’s Shaved Ice – also provided support or resources for the event. Great Clips employees were also onsite providing free haircuts.
