December 7, 2007

Allentown's Ecumenical Kitchen will mark 25 years of service to the hungry of Allentown next week.

On Thursday, December 13 at 2 PM, the Most Reverend Edward P. Cullen, D.D., Bishop of Allentown will celebrate a special Mass at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, 179 Chew Street in Allentown. A small reception will follow.

The Ecumenical Kitchen is a collaborative venture of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Allentown and the Lehigh County Conference of Churches. Catholic Charities opens the Kitchen during Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. It is the only kitchen serving in Allentown on weekends.

The Conference of Churches, albeit at a different location, operates the Kitchen Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. This allows seven-day-a-week coverage for the City of Allentown and Lehigh County. Volunteers prepare and serve meals at each location.

Annually, Catholic Charities' Ecumenical Kitchen serves close to 40,000 meals and on average 5,000 unduplicated children and adults are served. Since its inception in 1982, the number of people frequenting the Ecumenical Kitchen has consistently increased. So, too, has the number of volunteers associated with the kitchen.

Catholic Charities employees a part time Ecumenical Kitchen coordinator, Mildred Scrak, who oversees and supervises volunteers, schedules work crews, secures food items and acts as an intermediary between Our Lady of Mr. Carmel Parish and the Lehigh County Conference of Churches in recruiting volunteers and promoting public awareness of the Kitchen

Copyright 2003 The Catholic Diocese of Allentown
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