Published: October 22, 2009 11:33 pm      

The Well continues free lunches

DUNCAN — The Well is usually a place for the youth of Duncan to worship and spend their spare time.

But, for the second year, during lunch hours on Thursdays, it is open to the community for free lunches.

Every Thursday from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m., the First Christian Church, along with helpers from other churches such as Immanuel Baptist and RAW church.tv devote their time, energy and culinary skills to the people of Duncan to provide for those who may need a bite to eat. Volunteers will bring themselves and homemade desserts to the lunches and help prepare, and serve the people who come.

“It really involves a lot of people to get this done,” Bonnie Talley said.

Talley helped with the lunches last year and said that she loves doing it for the community.

The donations from last year’s lunches were used to dig a well in Zimbabwe, but this year they are being used to pay for the lunches of people who come in and may not be able to afford to donate.

“We’re on a limited budget here,” Talley said. “So this year, the donations will pay for people who can’t afford it, or high school kids who don’t have any lunch money.

“But we’re not a soup kitchen, we want anyone to come.”

People from high school to the nursing home will come to the lunches and Talley said they can expect around 100 people every week to come. She has even met people who were from out of state that came to the lunches.

“They would find out when someone delivered lunches and ask what it was,” Talley said. “They were usually just there once, but they all thought it was a neat program.”

She thought the free lunches were necessary due to the shape of the economy and just simply wanted to help people in the community who may be in need.

“The Well is a ministry of the First Christian Church, and we have this great space available and wanted to use it and show it to the community,” Talley said.

They even go above and beyond to help those who might not be able to make it to The Well during lunch hours.

“We even make some deliveries,” Talley said. “Some of the retail store owners don’t have anyone to watch their stores during lunch, so we’ll make deliveries to them and help them out too. It really blesses their lives.”

Talley said they don’t just supply food though, they also provide company to those that need it.

“People will come down here for lunch and end up visiting the entire time,” Talley said. “It’s a wonderful atmosphere.”

She said that there was one person in particular that stuck out in her mind as someone who was especially thankful for what they do.

“When we didn’t have the lunches during the summer, this lady would call the church every week to see if we had them,” Talley said.

“She ended up developing a good relationship with the church secretary and when we did start up the lunches again, she wanted to go over and meet her.

“She will sometimes come over and get her lunch then walk over and visit with her (the secretary). It’s one of those things where she wasn’t just in need, but she was lonely too, and we were able to provide both of those services for her, even when we weren’t serving lunches.”

The free lunches will be given out through Dec. at which point the church will evaluate if there is another area where they could be more beneficial.

“If we don’t find anything, then we’ll continue to do the lunches,” Talley said.

Talley said that it is important that people share the love of Jesus to the community.

“That’s what it’s all about,” Talley said. “I think serving other people is what Christianity is all about, and if we lose sight of that, we’re in trouble.”