The Melting Pot
Good Samaritan Ministries of Johnson City originally served sandwiches at their office in an old house behind Asbury Center. In March of 1998 they began the ministry of the Melting Pot which is located in the old Munsey United Methodist Church auditorium. Breakfast is available 6 days a week and lunch is served five days a week. The meals are prepared for the homeless, the elderly and/or homebound persons who have no resources to prepare a meal for themselves.
The churches in the area have signed up for preparing and serving meals on certain days of the month. OSLC was one of the very first churches to sign up. We chose the 2nd Wednesday of the month as our day to work. We prepare the food at OSLC and transport it to the Melting Pot in big roaster ovens. A few years ago one church was unable to continue so OSLC volunteered to also take care of the meal on the 5th Wednesday of the month when there is one.
For a short time we accepted donations to pay for the food for these meals, however after about a year, this project was put into the Social Ministry budget and has remained there since then.
We are approved to shop at Second Harvest and get USDA foods (no charge) when they are available. In the 9 years we have been doing this OSLC has served over 17,000 meals.
For more information, go to www.goodsamjc.org.