When members of the Altoona community heard about the “LIVE LONGER” mini expo offered by the Chippewa Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church, they were interested. With the offer of “FREE delicious food samples from the longest living population group in the U.S.,” they came to see what was being offered.
For three Tuesday nights during the month of August, the church hosted the free event. Although it “was a ton of work,” the church also found it to be “a super whole lot of fun and a great success!”
Advertising for the event was done via Facebook, bulletin boards, personal invitation, and door-to-door local outreach. The professional and beautiful event brochure was designed by a local church member, who also created “Live Longer” aprons. Cooking of the vegetarian food was done by generous and talented local church members. The members also assisted with greeting, set-up, registration, clean-up, and friendly conversation with the 25 members of the public who attended. The event was part of the church’s Health & Temperance outreach in preparation for a September Evangelism Prophecy series.
Between the church members and individuals from the community, attendance was about 40 persons per night. The evening began with a short testimony/welcome message, then each cook presented his/her recipe, followed by guests getting to taste the samples. Recipes included Bar-b-que, burgers, hot dishes, chili, sandwich spread, meatballs, lentil loaf, and of course wonderful desserts like carob cake, lemon bars and cookies… all vegetarian.
Guests took home recipes and handouts each night. Cookbooks and/or specialty food ingredients were given as prizes each night, and the grand prize winner won an Insta Pot donated by a generous church member. Contact information was collected from our guests, who will be invited back for future “LIVE LONGER” events.
This was indeed a labor of love by a large group of hard-working, talented, outgoing church members who, although not really certain of just what they were doing or how it would turn out, are totally glad they did what they did and want to do it again!
Marcia Harycki, Chippewa Valley SDA Church
