Cloudy With a Chance of Free Spaghetti

Story by Pamela Tenney, Fairmont Church Member

Regina Boyce, deaconess of the Fairmont (W.Va.) church, loves taking care of people. Each year, the church participates in community food outreach, and each year it continues to grow. This July, it was taken to a whole new level as Boyce says, “Let’s see if we can feed all of Marion County!” Members from both Fairmont and Grafton, W.Va., came together to serve in love.

The day started early with prep work to make the spaghetti dinner. Members set up several stations for everyone to pitch in and help. While some members took care of spaghetti, desserts, salads, dressings, bread and butter, others bagged up water and literature. Pick-up, drive-by and delivery options were available to better serve the community. Some members managed the registration and prayer areas, while some walked orders to cars. When possible, they prayed with people who walked by to grab their dinners. A family of six asked to see the inside of the church and were very interested in what Fairmont had to offer.

Larry Murphy, pastor of the Fairmont and Grafton churches, made deliveries with some of his members. They took food to many of the local Fairmont first responders, city, county and state police departments, 911 operators and Emergency Medical Services. “It was amazing!” states Murphy. “They all were so grateful and appreciated the dinners and wanted to make sure we knew that.”

It was a team effort from both churches; some folks from the local community even pitched in to deliver. At the end of the day, Boyce happily counted the number of dinners they served to the Fairmont community: 693!