(Pictured above: Julenne Mounts shares flowers with Keith McCrary to go along with his dinner.)

St. John's Kula: Fellowship Dinner

[Chronicle, July 9, 2020] COVID-19 has opened up a world of creative alternatives and ideas for doing things we once never had to think twice about. Worship, meetings, and outreach have taken on a whole new look and feel as social distancing and face masks become the new normal for a while. Like several churches in the Diocese that have shifted to drive-through options for continuing their outreach efforts, St. John's Episcopal Church on Maui tried out their first drive-through Fellowship Dinner on Friday, June 26, 2020. What made this so special was that the inspiration and elbow grease to accomplish it, was done almost entirely by the Mounts family of four.

​Julenne Mounts (pictured at top) has been an active force at St. John's, and along with her husband Dwight, and two children, Zoe and Luke, they decided to embrace the challenge.  "It was a large job for our 4-person family," said Julenne in an email about the dinner, "but my husband did dishes before, during, and after, and we were locking up the parish hall at 8:00 PM to get the kids home and in bed."

The menu consisted of Polenta Casserole with venison Italian sausage or veggies, steamed organic green beans from the local farmers market, mixed green salad (20 heads of hydroponic lettuce donated by Waipoli Greens in Kula), french rolls made by parishioner chef Segolene Wilson, and oatmeal raisin cookies baked by the Mounts family.

If cooking, packing, and serving weren't enough, the venison was provided by Dwight and Luke.  "The Maui venison was courtesy of my husband and son who hunt on Kaonoulu Ranch to cut down the incredibly invasive levels of axis deer on Maui," explained Julenne. "We love offering it to the community because it encourages my husband's hobby, preserves the environment of our island home, and nourishes people with lean, local, delicious meat."

They planned for 75 dinners, but luckily made extra for the 90 meals served, all in eco-friendly takeout boxes.

St. John's Rector, the Rev. Kerith Harding, was surprised and delighted with the turnout. "Our free, monthly community dinners have been an important ministry of St. John’s since July of 2009. When the pandemic came, we had to make the difficult choice to press pause on the dinners until we knew we could do so safely. Thankfully, Julenne and her family floated the idea of a drive-through as a way to continue the ministry during this complicated time; a time in which, quite frankly, the need hasn’t been greater in recent memory. With 36% unemployment on Maui, our food pantry ministry has seen a four-fold increase in demand, so we had a feeling we’d have lots of folks come out for dinner, but I never imagined we’d serve 90 meals! It certainly felt like a loaves and fishes moment."

St. John's and the Mounts hope to serve the next Fellowship meal on July 31, but would love a few more dishwashers if another family might be willing to join them.  Adds Julenne, "We are also looking for other creative ways to stay socially distanced and of service."  

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​Pictured picking up their dinners are Judy and Buck Thompson.  Judy led the dinner ministry since its inception in July of 2009, and retired in May, after nearly 11 years of dedicated service.  It's nice to see them on the receiving end after having served so many for so long.

There was an added silver lining in this experience that Julenne hopes may help other families with children during this challenging time. She shares this reflection on how serving others has helped shine a light in their lives during difficult times. 

I can’t recommend this ministry enough to help families get their children up and moving on something purposeful and of real assistance to this world and our community right now. Many of my other parent friends have mentioned to me that their teens have felt especially powerless to help during this time, which can actually lead to more anxiety and depressed behavior, so I’ve kept my eye out for opportunities and inspiration from other people in other parts of the world for projects that young people can safely get involved with. For us, this really fit the bill, because our kids do a lot of cooking and enjoy it, and the people of St. John’s have nourished them since they were born in a way that only a village can, so it was wonderful to be able to allow them to give back in this way.

The summer doldrums have set in several times in our household where the kids don’t want to do their chores anymore, or at least not in a timely manner, and I was so pleased to see them running back and forth to prepare food and pack bags without any complaints or hesitation, plus the many hours in advance that they chopped vegetables. They came away from the experience glowing, which suggested to me that the Wuhan psychologist (who I read about a few weeks ago who had watched and lived through the pandemic for several months longer than we have) was right when she said: "In the face of tragedy, if you can help other people, you will empower yourself.” 

​--Julenne Mounts

S. Nishioka, Editor
(Contributed photos)