We have come to the end of a calendar year, and looking back we can see the goodness of God so clearly. God has built something truly lovely here, and it truly has been all Him. Bountiful Tables has become a community that seeks to love our God first and serve our families wholeheartedly. It is a treasure. We are growing and learning every week and have so many goals to improve in every area. But, we would be amiss to charge ahead before we look back and thank Jesus for what He’s done here…
Friday April 21st we had our first Bountiful Tables meal prep time. We had 4 moms, 13 kids and made 13 meals (104 servings) that first afternoon. It was all so new and choppy and toddling like a baby learning to walk. But, we all went home with prepped meals that changed the way our next week went. We were all quickly hooked. So we kept toddling, and falling and getting back up and learning how to navigate cooking together. When Pastor Jeffrey had the idea to start our Community Meal every Monday night this added another element of joy. Once we have finished up our meal prep, we sit down to eat dinner with our families together. Every week we adjusted, and still do. As we have been diligent to do this thing well, God has blessed the work of our hands.
The growth pattern the Lord put us on was definitely faster than any of us had anticipated. We currently have an average of 7 moms cooking with us each Monday. It’s not rare for us to have 30 kids playing board games and running around outside while we cook. We continue to offer each mom 3 prepped meals per week. Our families have around 24 servings from Bountiful Tables weekly. Since our first meeting, we’ve met 29 more times to cook together. Over 1,700 servings have come out of our kitchen for our families. So many moments prepped for our families to gather, eat nourishing foods and create better routines. The cost has been set at $30 per family per week, and this has helped many of us save considerably on our grocery budget.
As all of these numbers add up, the things that really mattered were the one-on-one moments. It’s not uncommon to look up from a task and see one Mom praying over another Mom in tears. It’s not rare to hear Moms sharing life stories, marriage lessons, testimonies, tips for homeschooling, prayer requests, and recipes. This community is so precious. We are all in similar seasons and the connection we experience each week has become a sweet place in all of our weeks.
We offer a prayer time before meal prep each Monday. Sometimes it's just 3 of us, or more; we read the Bible, share what’s on our hearts, seeking Jesus and growing up in Him. We truly believe that as we continue to make space and fully surrender our homemaking and motherhood to Jesus, He is blessing us in ways we didn’t even know we needed.
Once our entire crew shows up, we always start out with a Bible verse, testimonies, or a simple devotional. Our rhythm is the consistent cry for more of Jesus, because we know that He is the answer to our every need.
Since the families that are cooking with us receive a flat rate weekly, we realized the need to further fund this endeavor. We saw the opportunity to cook for people in our community, and offer this wholesome food at affordable prices. Since then we have become a licensed commercial kitchen and offer fully cooked meals weekly. We have loved this part of the ministry as well, serving over 1,300 meals to our Nowata neighbors.
These neighbors are from all walks and seasons of life; the elderly, widows, young busy moms needing help, young couples wanting a break in the kitchen, single men enjoying home cooked meals…
All of these folks are invited to our Community Meal on Monday nights. This is one of our favorite times, to have our toddlers sitting with the beautiful older generation. Connecting these seasons and walks of life around a table, all for the Glory of Jesus.
Community is a powerful thing. We have seen moms grow in their faith in God. We have seen moms come along side each other during hard times, in tangible ways. We have seen children develop sweet friendships. We have seen the lonely come and join us. We have seen the goodness of God in this little community that Jesus is building.
Mercy Meals have been another outreach from this ministry. We have had the joy of sharing fully cooked meals for a family whose house burned down, families who were grieving the loss of a loved one, and others recovering from illnesses. It is blessing to give meals to those in need in our community.
Along the way we have a had some amazing sponsors and donors. Meats have been donated to us by Chuck and Melinda Bellatti, as well as Curtis and Vicki Mendell. Rainey’s Meat Market and John and Kelly Martin have partnered with us to give us deeply discounted meats. Much needed kitchen supplies have been given to us, and finances have been shared by several generous donors. Our team has been so blessed by others coming along side us, and we truly cannot do this without you. To our partners; thank you for seeing the impact here and being a part of it!
Making over 2,000 meals, we have taken in $20,378.66. Even so, total expenses in this time, even with donations and discounts, has been $23,275.99. That means the ministry is operating at a deficit. We want to thank the leadership of the Nowata Methodist Church for seeing the good and potential for this ministry, choosing to continue funding it despite its financial drain. We hope to continue augmenting and growing the ministry so that it eventually does not have such an impact. In the meantime, if you would like to give financially, you can do that by clicking here.
This is just a snapshot of what has happened in our inaugural season, and we are excited to see what God has planned for 2024. If you would like more information, please email us at bountifultablesnowata@gmail.com. Most of all, will you pray with us and for us this coming year? We want to honor the Lord and obey Jesus in all of our doing here. Thank you all for your support, we look forward to our next update to you all!