News From Christian Service Mission: Sewing Into Each Other and Cooking Up A Storm

An invaluable time together at eMeals

We are so excited to see a dream begin to come to fruition. CSM is developing a healthy eating and lifestyle education program in partnership with food authority and key partner, eMeals.com, to be implemented within the context of our many strong community relationships. We are planning to launch the new community outreach health education initiative with key CSM ministry partners in West End, East Lake and Woodlawn in 2017.

This past Thursday night, Christian Service Mission and eMeals hosted a teaching model workshop and think-tank dinner for women from Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church. Dr. Michael Wesley's wife Venita brought a few friends who she identifies as potential leadership for the program to explore together how to bring this is essential benefit to their community.

Following the teaching model we plan to implement, we learned helpful cooking techniques while we prepared a meal together in the eMeals test kitchen. eMeals founders, Jane DeLaney and Jenny Cochran planned the dinner recipes directly from an eMeals menu and taught the cooking session. As we waited for the food to cook, eMeals clinical dietitian, Andrea Kirkland, shared a wealth of nutritional and food knowledge with everyone.

During dinner, we heard how Mrs. Wesley shaped the minds of the many fortunate students she taught in her Family and Consumer Science (Home Ec) classes for the past thirty-five years. Her experience as an educator and her vast knowledge-base is adding an amazing level of practicality, insight and vision for the depth of our developing program.

Newly formed friendships and invaluable conversation around the table

Jenny enthusiastically shared how she and Jane felt after the dinner, “Gathering last week with Venita Wesley and the group of incredible ladies from Greater Shiloh in the eMeals kitchen and around the table to talk about nutrition and the health of our families, neighbors and communities was such a great collaboration of perspectives, wisdom, and knowledge. We were so inspired by their thoughtful input about practical steps we can take in partnership with one another to elevate the health of communities we serve." Jane added, "We are looking forward to working together with CSM and their amazing ministry partners to empower families with nutrition knowledge and home-cooking encouragement.”