Community Warm Lunch Mondays

Every Monday we offer a community lunch – Warm Lunches in a Warm Space – in the church hall from 12:30pm to 2:00pm. You may have heardabout this. We hope, if this has registered, that you have availed yourself of the very fine lunches we serve.

As Fr John has previously written, our attendance numbers have gradually risen from a dozen to almost 60 (the numbers can vary considerably from week to week): through word of mouth and our banners hung outside the church. We get a wonderful mix of OSP members, students, visitors to Edinburgh who have just come up from Waverley Station and seen the banners, and a sizeable number of very respectful (and very hungry) people without homes or families.

I love helping with this lunch. Fortunate as I have been throughout my life, it is my pleasure to try to give something back to the community.

The thing is (and it is sad that it always comes back to this), it costs to do this. We are a haven, still, in a time when quite a lot of other communities have had to stop their provision of meals because of a lack of funding. We don’t want to charge for these lunches – many people just can’t afford it – but food (good, healthy, quality, DELICIOUS food) and the heating cost. Many people try to donate for their meals – something, anything – and occasionally individuals are moved to great generosity (we recently were given £50 and £200 by two visitors because they enjoyed themselves so much) but basically we need to encourage you – our Old Saint Paul’s family to consider contributing to the Community Fund. It is an important part of our outreach – part of our mission – aside from the fact that it is something we can all do for our fellow sisters and brothers. Not everyone, because of other commitments, can be on site, helping set up, serve and clean up after the meals but we can all give a regular ‘something’ towards to fund to keep it going strong. Please remember us in your personal giving.

If you want to help, in person, please get in touch with Fr John, Mthr Jamie or Ginger – our volunteer numbers are slowly growing, which is wonderful – and fun! And if you are in town – on your own or with a friend – and just need a space to breathe and a good hot meal – then please, please join us!

Ginger Franklin