Garrett Neese/Daily Mining Gazette A sign on the window thanks volunteers of Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly, who helped deliver around 1,000 Easter dinners to local residents on Sunday afternoonm with 140 doing through Grace Methodist Lutheran Church in Houghton. About 24 people served at the site, preparting meals for takeout.

HOUGHTON — Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly delivered about 1,000 Easter dinners to local residents Sunday afternoon.

About 140 of the dinners went through Grace United Methodist Church in Houghton, said organizer John Quinn.

About 24 people served at the site preparing meals for takeout, Quinn said. Over the years, a consistent group has formed for the dinners, from Easter to Christmas.

“We’re fortunate that we get enough people to volunteer to help out, so that Little Brothers, when they get volunteers, can send them to other sites where they may be short-handed,” he said.

The meals are a tangible way of putting the teachings of the church into practice, said Pastor Eric Falker.

“By partnering with Little Brothers Friends of the Elderly, we give them that opportunity to go out and serve someone,” he said. “That’s huge. The only way someone grows in their faith is by actually doing what you say in your faith that you are learning.”

Because of COVID-19 concerns, the Little Brothers dinners were again delivery-only. Whereas before drivers would come in and pick up the meals, Little Brothers collects data on their driver and matches their card to a specific person who will get the meal, Quinn said.

Volunteers bring the meals out to the drivers, reducing possible contact, Felker said.

“I think that makes a lot more people feel safe coming and participating,” he said. “Whereas if you had a big meal, you might have 100 people downstairs in the fellowship hall rubbing elbows, and as fun as that is for some people that’s kind of a scary thing.”

Quinn has been volunteering for more than 35 years. He recalled going to St. Ignatius to prep the meal. Having an extra heater in his van, he also got the honor of picking up several older women to eat at the site.

“They’d complain the van was too hot,” he said.

Once he dropped them off, After delivering 25 to 30 takeout meals, he’d come back to take the women back home.

“This is much nicer, just a takeout site,” he said.

Quinn said the meals increase fellowship, especially in the cold winter months.

“If you’re older in the pandemic or if you don’t have a car, you can’t get out and get around, all the days become the same,” he said. “So this brightens somebody’s day.”

Little Brothers doesn’t just encourage the deliveries, it wants people to engage in conversation, Falker said.

“It lets people know that they are loved,” he said. “They are not forgotten.”