Walk In Cooler

Well, our walk in cooler is in full use today.  This is certainly not a great photo, but it represents an important moment.  Today was the first day of the intersession meals program providing free breakfasts and lunches to children in our neighborhood here at church.  When school is not in session we supply free meals to children under a USDA program through the Illinois State Board of Education.

As this program has gotten bigger we have needed more space to keep things at a proper temperature and to store food and keep it fresh.  Last summer we purchased a used walk-in cooler and stored it, in pieces, in the garage of the parsonage here at church.  We were able to purchase it with a grant from the Diane and Hunt Harris Foundation.  There have been many steps to get to today.  We had to find a room in the church that we could use, and then move the other users to a new location.  We got an electrician to install proper outlets.  We found a commercial cooling company and had them reassemble our cooler and get it running.  Then we ordered custom shelving and had it installed.  You can see that it has been an eight month process to get things in use.

We need to have a grand opening in a few weeks!