Eaton Rapids: First UMC has become a trusted partner in feeding those facing food insecurity in their community. They aren’t the only ones. United Methodist churches across Michigan have similar stories. Come to Advocacy Day on March 18 to share your story with lawmakers.
JAMES DEATON
Content Editor
From rural communities in the Upper Peninsula to the inner-city streets of Detroit, Michigan United Methodist churches are doing their part to feed hungry families. We see this care and compassion in bountiful Thanksgiving baskets for families in need, hot lunches for people experiencing homelessness, and food pantries stocked with nonperishable items.
What is your local church’s story? How has your feeding ministry made an impact in your community? Come to Lansing for Advocacy Day on Wednesday, March 18, and share your story with your state senator and representative. Then thank them for their past support for funding food banks to reduce hunger in our state and encourage them to continue that support despite the state revenue shortfall. Learn more about this year’s topic and register to join us.
Faith communities are doing all they can, given the rise in grocery prices and the painful reality that wages have not kept pace. Letting our elected officials know where we stand on this issue and encouraging them to do more can help save lives and ease the stress for many Michiganders.
March 1 is the deadline to register to ensure appointments with legislators can be confirmed and to reserve a lunch spot. Register now for Advocacy Day on March 18.
Watch the 30-minute lunch-and-learn about Advocacy Day and hear from event coordinators on planning for this year. You’ll also learn how you can participate if you can’t be there in person.
This year’s topic is hunger and food insecurity, which touches every single person in our state. You may not have ever experienced it personally, but you know someone who hasn’t always had sufficient nutritious food or has lived under the stress of providing enough food for their loved ones. They’re our neighbors, coworkers, friends at church, and family members.
Maybe this is the kind of story that you hope to share with lawmakers. As you consider the story you will bring to Advocacy Day, here’s a local church story previously published in MIconnect about Eaton Rapids: First UMC. They are standing in the gap for their neighbors in Eaton County and engaging in innovative, collaborative ministry.
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The faith community of Eaton Rapids: First UMC in Eaton County, southwest of Lansing, has found a ministry niche by serving as a community center for the area and a trusted partner in feeding those facing food insecurity in this rural community.
Last fall, a woman entered the church lobby, appearing frantic and trying to find someone who could help her. Rev. Melany Chalker met the woman as she was returning from an off-site meeting and recounts the conversation.
“The woman asked me if I worked here at the church,” says Pastor Melany, “and I responded that I am the lead pastor. Her body seemed to melt as she began weeping. She shared that she had been in bed sick for the past two days and missed the deadline for the Holiday Food & Gift Baskets application. She wondered whether we would still accept the application. I offered her a big smile and a hug and assured her it was no problem at all.”
“She then began blessing me,” Pastor Melany remembers further, “as if I was the one to thank. I told her I would be praying for her, for healing, and she thanked me again. We hugged once more before she went back out the door, taller than when she arrived.”
Each year, Eaton Rapids: First UMC partners with the local Community Christian Action Group, giving them the church’s gymnasium for a week as they organize and assemble Holiday Food & Gift Baskets for individuals and families in need during the holidays. The congregation also collects the majority of the items needed for distribution, filling 100 grocery bags with food and purchasing 125 gift cards loaded with $35 each.
This is just one of several feeding ministries the congregation engages in throughout the year, including a monthly, county-wide mobile food distribution (the only one in Eaton County) in collaboration with the Greater Lansing Food Bank, and a brand-new partnership with Eaton Community Health in offering a location for them to install two sets of food lockers and a kiosk. Eaton Community Health keeps the lockers filled with nonperishable items.
To fill the refrigerated lockers with perishable food, Eaton Rapids: First UMC applied for and received a $2,000 grant from UMCOR’s Feeding Our Neighbors food ministry grant program. They are only the second location in Michigan to have these state-of-the-art food lockers.
Pastor Melany explains, “These lockers will not only be a stopgap for the time being, but they will continue to provide agencies, pastors of area churches, school personnel, and the local pantry with a code to give out to an individual or family to access food, as the needs arise.”
The UMCOR grant will support the purchase of food to fill the lockers for children, families, and elders in the area. Because they are refrigerated, they can add meat, dairy, and other essentials to the shelf-stable items Eaton Community Health buys from the Greater Lansing Food Bank.
Eaton Rapids: First UMC has become a hub of activity in their community, housing the highest-rated childcare center in the area with the lowest tuition, sharing their building with everything from the Community Christian Action Group to driver’s training courses to blood drives and more, and fostering 47 small groups that connect, grow, and serve throughout the community.
It’s been a mutual, Spirit-led relationship that has grown over the years. “Our congregation and community take great pride in the way we care for one another in the Eaton Rapids area,” says Pastor Melany. “Applications are minimal, flexibility is apparent, and grace runs rampant.” And she believes this new food locker ministry is just another way her congregation is enjoying serving others in the name of Christ and expanding their impact during this difficult time for many.
The publication of this article was made possible thanks to generous financial gifts from local United Methodist churches in Michigan through Ministry Shares. Thank you! Learn about the impact of Ministry Shares on mission and ministry in Michigan and around the world.
Last Updated on February 25, 2026