By Mike Renzella
The Haldimand Press
HAGERSVILLE—The Hagersville United Church will be offering their popular chili supper as a take-out option for the second straight year in light of current pandemic restrictions.
The event will take place on Friday, February 4 from 4:30-6:30 p.m. Patrons will receive a generous serving of homemade chili, with salad and a bun for just $10 a serving.
Susan Mitchell, treasurer for the church, said that despite missing the social aspect of the traditional chili cook-off and spaghetti dinners the church would typically host in the winter and fall each year, the take-out alternatives have proven successful.
“It went very well. It was well received. Technically we don’t have huge turnouts to our suppers, it’s more of a social time. People sit around and chat; as far as numbers go, we did very well. The spaghetti supper REALLY went well,” described Mitchell.
Any funds raised through the dinner will go towards the general operations of the church: “The expenses go on even though we were closed for quite a few months at different periods over this pandemic.”
Although some expenses are down, Mitchell said the church is missing revenue generated from renting the church space to the Haldimand Abilities Centre, who have been unable to run community programs due to COVID, leaving the church without that steady income source, with a portion of those lost funds being offset by the United Church of Canada.
Mitchell added that the ongoing pandemic, and the uncertainty surrounding whether they could or could not open for service has had a large impact on the community: “People need to socialize. That was missing,” she said. “People are very hesitant about coming out. It really has impacted us.”
To counter that, Pastor Peggy Eileen Bartlett has been going above and beyond to ensure those who cannot physically be there, or cannot connect through the internet, still feel a part of the church community.
“She made sure that we were kept online. Even the ones who weren’t connected electronically, she would deliver bulletins to them each week. We have some that are in nursing homes, some that do not have computers. She would make sure they got a bulletin each week. Even though they couldn’t see the service, I believe she typed out her sermon and included it in the bulletin.”
As for the chili dinner, Mitchell advised patrons to call ahead to set a pick up time to avoid too many patrons arriving at once: 905-768-3287. Bon appetit!