Walk-In Refrigerator Update for Congregational Meeting, Sunday, December 13, 11:00 A.M.
Overview:
Four weeks ago a donor walked into Grace and offered to buy us a walk-in refrigerator. This was a very unexpected and generous gift. It also is a gift that will push our ministry at Grace and Grace Welcome Center forward. Roughly 500 individuals will be receiving fresh milk, produce, and other perishable food a week (currently our perishable food offerings are very limited based on our refrigeration capacity). Grace Welcome Center Pantry will be the largest supplier of fresh food in Uptown and the human, health, and social impacts are almost beyond imagination. As we read in Matthew 25, this means that Jesus himself will be receiving fresh produce 500 times a week because of this.
Also, as we have learned, when we are faithful to God’s mission of serving others, resources come to our church. This fall we have seen $35,000 come into Grace Lutheran from external donors and grants. Grace Welcome Center has seen a similar large increase in giving this fall.
The Council has made a recommendation that we put the walk-in Refrigerator in the southeast corner of the “rainbow room”. There were many reasons this location made the most sense. Some of those are: it is the best place to put it in terms of wiring, it is the least disruptive space to existing programs (Amistad Cristiana has signed off on this idea), and it works well for Grace Welcome Center Pantry. This is a win win solution.
FAQ’s About the Walk-In Refrigerator
Specs of the Unit and basics of the plan:
- The unit will be 10x14ft
- The unit will be stainless steel on the outside
- The unit will have a remote compressor that is located outside. This reduces both the heat and noise of the unit to nothing.
- The unit will come to Grace in pieces and be assembled with adhesives that mean it will be very hard if not impossible to move once it is assembled
- Grace Welcome Center will make a donation each month to Grace to cover the added electrical charges.
- The unit will be placed 18 inches from the wall on both sides to allow access to heating floor boards and other building issues that arise in our older building
- Amistad Cristiana is comfortable with this unit going in.
- The unit will need a 220-watt dedicated hook up (like a washing machine/dryer) The fuse box is in the closet off of the rainbow room and the power will be run from there.
On Sunday, December 13, we will have an opportunity to discuss this, answer questions, and vote on the placement of the walk-in refrigerator.