The Newark Free Lunch Program in the basement of the Emmanuel United Methodist Church has a long history of providing home cooked meals to those in need.  The program started in 1993 with Art and Elsie Deys having a vision of providing a free Thanksgiving dinner. It soon developed into serving a warm lunch, Tuesday through Friday. Over the years, 40-50 people have been hosted daily with numbers increasing in fall and winter.

With the advent of the Coronavirus, the church dining room was forced to close for serving. A “Grab and Go” lunch program was instituted with lunches handed out at the church door. The daily count of people requesting help soon grew to 120+ daily. Monthly totals skyrocketed from an average of 600 a month to 1900 in April.  Managers Manny and Alice Crespo said “These numbers have devastated our budget and we need some financial help.”

A request for donations went out the week of April 19th and the outpouring of support from several communities was remarkable. The tireless efforts of volunteers in the kitchen has also helped to continue this program. Two teams of four volunteers each work two days a week making sandwiches and assembling lunch boxes.  Another volunteer hands out the meals at the door.

On May 2nd, 281 lunches were handed out. This was made possible through financial gifts from other churches, service organizations, and individuals. Donations of food products come from area farmers, Wegmans, Walmart, and grants from Foodlink.  Area businesses have been generous with their discounts and donations.   The Crespos commented, “We are truly grateful to have had such overwhelmingly support to our request for help.  It is over and above anything we expected.  Newark is a very caring community.”