“Zinzendorf said there can be no Christianity without community,” Bob Wingrove, executive director of The Freezer Ministry and Garden Gatherers Inc., said on a recent January morning in the kitchen of East Hills Moravian Church, home base of the ministry.

Wingrove echoed the words of the German theologian and Moravian bishop as he and volunteer Jack Boyd discussed the work of the ever-growing ministry, which focuses on serving the community in a spirit of faith and friendship.

There is beauty in simplicity, and the ministry’s goal is simple: to connect churches, schools and community groups of all types to each other, to all their members and their community, through the simple act of sharing food and friendship in a time of need.

“So much a part of our ministry is reaching out and helping neighbors — there’s a bit of an epidemic of loneliness and depression in addition to need,” Wingrove said.

The Freezer Ministry is an ecumenical/community program that began in 2010 and has blossomed. Its original mission was to prepare easy-to-reheat meals to be distributed to anyone who needs them – any person, neighbor, friend or other hungry person in the community. Meals are perfectly sized for those recovering from illness, new parents, older members of congregations, those unemployed, experiencing economic hardship or homelessness, or in need of a simple gesture of caring.

As it has grown, the ministry now exceeds just an easy to reheat meal.

Though The Freezer Ministry began in 2010 with Bethlehem Area Moravians (BAM) based at East Hills, the ministry’s history stretches back decades before that.

“Our Men’s Fellowship at East Hills served meals for 30 years and donated leftovers to family, church members and friends,” Wingrove said. “After 2010, we joined with all other Bethlehem Moravian churches to spread to our neighbors.”

Fast forward to February 2023, when the Garden Gathers Program launched as part of The Freezer Ministry. In 2024, the Garden Gatherers served 11 community elementary and middle schools, and had 90 free vegetable and fruit markets for students and families who are food challenged, distributing 60 tons of produce.

The total number of meals and meal equivalents served for 2024 totaled over 115,000, primarily due to the vegetable and fruit distribution programs of the Garden Gatherers. The goal for 2025 is 200,000 meals.

The bigger news of 2024 is the ministry is in the process of transitioning to an independent nonprofit corporation and a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization. Wingrove said the corporation is formed, functional and blessed with a small but amazing board. “We are all dedicated to this volunteer driven mission,” he said.

The ministry is now incorporated under the name The Freezer Ministry and Garden Gatherers Inc. Wingrove said the new independent status opens up many opportunities for expansion.

Wingrove said The Freezer Ministry will always appreciate what the Moravian Church has done to nurture this ministry and mission.

“A big debt of gratitude also goes to the Transition Committee which helped us through the process, along with serious professional advice,” he said. “Without this help we would not have the bright future we are looking at today.”

Wingrove noted demand for meals jumped during COVID, and the ministry purchased more freezers through BAM. Today, they have four double freezers and three double refrigerators.

Wingrove emphasized the ministry is not a pantry, but is designated as a soup kitchen.

Volunteers

Volunteers are truly the spokes that make the ministry’s wheels turn.

“People like that the ministry is 100 percent volunteer,” Wingrove said. These include 35 to 40 volunteers who gather for cooking at East Hills or distributing fruits and vegetables.

Volunteers gather four or five days a month for a day of cooking to produce meals for organizations including Bethlehem Emergency Services, Safe Harbor Easton, Lehigh Conference of Churches (LCC) Allentown Area Ecumenical Food Bank, and Allentown Street Ministries.

Frozen meals are distributed to the public from East Hills Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Contact the church ahead of time at 610-868-6481 or contact Wingrove at 610-730-3929 or robert.wingrove@rcn.com to arrange a pickup time.

“We make unique recipes based on ingredients we’re gifted and receive from Second Harvest,” Wingrove said. Sometimes those recipes include things like shrimp – when Wingrove finds a good deal when buying wholesale.

Wingrove said overall the ministry has hundreds of volunteers, which include school coordinators in schools that have volunteer distribution for the Garden Gatherers Program.

“Our kids are eating way too much processed food,” Wingrove said, adding families don’t always choose fresh food because there are more cost-effective ways to spend their money.

“We have 17 types of food and vegetables per delivery,” Wingrove said.

Garden Gatherers supplies 30 pounds of fruits and vegetables for every family in the program each month from March through November, and currently serves 600 to 700 students and 4,000 family members.

Volunteers include lawyers and other professionals who donate their time and talent. The ministry is now actively seeking a professional grant writer and website designer to volunteer their expertise.

Wingrove gave a shout-out to all the individuals, donors and partnerships that make the ministry a success, including Wegman’s, which has donated many cases of broccoli and is a great source of bananas for the ministry.

“He’s brought so many people in,” volunteer Jack Boyd said of Wingrove, dubbing him “the Pied Piper of food ministry.

“It’s in his nature,” said Boyd, retired assistant principal of Bangor Area HS, who now teaches mathematics at Northampton Community College.

“Something about my faith has left me inspired,” Wingrove reflected. “I had very affirming parents who brought me up in a church world.”

Wingrove became involved with the CROP Walk that fights hunger and poverty 40 years ago. An amateur cook in high school – he says his mother let him get cookin’ in the kitchen – Wingrove has 17 years experience as a caterer and 23 years working at Bethlehem Steel. He majored in health and physical education at his alma mater, Lock Haven University. All of these are ingredients that blend perfectly to make a successful recipe for his work with the ministry.

“I want to do things and keep going,” Wingrove said. “I find great joy in working with people.”

“It makes everybody feel good to contribute to society,” Boyd said. “It’s God’s world right here. Let’s take care of it.”

“When I retired, I looked at things to do, and I didn’t have to look far. I see how good and vital this is, especially helping kids,” Boyd said.

“People see there’s a need,” Boyd said, and stressed the importance of giving back to meet that need.

“If you have the resources to do it, give back with your time, finances and gifts – put them to work,” Boyd said. “We have it so good. If we don’t give back, there’s something wrong. Life is practicing to go to heaven, doing this work down here.”

Boyd, who has been involved with the ministry since 2019, said working in it is fulfilling, and he’s grateful to have met so many nice people through the work.

He also appreciates the physical workout of stirring large pots containing 70 pounds of soup. “We do some serious soup cooking.”

It’s all about coming together. The ministry works with Second Harvest and has 50 connections, including 11 schools, more than 15 local churches, senior centers and senior high rises and Safe Harbor Easton.

A sampling of recipients also includes Central Moravian Food Pantry, Holy Family Senior Living, Lutheran Manor, Northeast Community Center, Salvation Army, Sole Sistas Cancer Care and YMCA.

Holy Infancy ES is a recipient of the Garden Gatherers Program, which has made a strong positive impact on the school.

“The contributions of fresh produce has made such a meaningful difference in the lives of so many families we serve at Holy Infancy,” said Holy Infancy Principal Sonia Vazquez-Young. “We are so grateful for the kindness and generosity of Bob Wingrove and the volunteers.

“All the donations show that many truly care about our cause to serve the most needy and the work we do together for the mission of Jesus,” Vazquez-Young said. “We thank them from the bottom of our hearts for their continued support. Words can never express how much their support and contributions means to us, and the families in need that we serve together for the glory of Christ.

“As a volunteer myself, working alongside the elderly of the community as well as community residents is a testament to the phrase I live by, “It takes a village,’” she said.

Fundraising

Fundraising is key to keeping the ministry humming, with a goal this year of raising $135,000 through grants, fundraisers and donations.

The Soup Sale is a popular fundraiser. In February 2024, it garnered 106 orders for a total of 448 soups, yielding $3,648 with net sales and additional donations.

The soups are delicious and healthy, and especially appreciated by seniors.

“There is a half-pound of chicken in a quart of our soup, with moderate fat and sodium and a lot of protein,” Wingrove said.

The Harvest Dinner Nov. 9 resulted in 251 combined in-house and take-out dinners served. Net sales and generous additional donations yielded $4,500. Additional food prepared at the same time provided 150 meals for the ministry’s recipients. Valuing the additional meals at $5 each, the total economic value of the Harvest Dinner was $5,250.

The ministry partnered again with BES for Christmas Huts on Main in downtown Bethlehem, and the effort was a big success, securing donations for both orgaizations and raising awareness of homelessness and hunger. The venture – which included ministry volunteers donating 6,000 homemade cookies – raised about $5,600, exceeding last year’s total, despite extremely cold weather.

Future plans

Future plans include youth outreach. “We want to work with youth community groups and work more with colleges,” Wingrove said, adding it’s also important to develop leadership.

The ministry is also interested in setting up locations in other Lehigh Valley kitchens. “We’ll support them until they become independent,” Wingrove said, “It’s really like franchising,” Boyd added.

Ministry leaders want to expand in the Lehigh Valley, beginning with the Easton area and continuing into the Slate Belt and northern tier of the Lehigh Valley. Leaders would like to see the ministry in every community school in the Lehigh Valley within three to five years.

Reflecting on his work with the ministry, Wingrove recalled an experience at the Weekend Lunch Program and Pantry of Christ Church United Church of Christ at 75 E. Market St., another recipient of the ministry’s outreach.

“There was a lady cocooned in her car. She had a job but no home, and she ate the soup like it was the most precious thing,” Wingrove said. “It broke my heart but inspires me, too.”

“The much bigger side of this program is how members of all our churches and other ecumenical partners and community come together to help our fellow church members and our greater community,” Wingrove said. “Let our light shine on the poor, homeless, hungry, those in need, lonely or isolated among us.”

For more information contact Wingrove at robert.wingrove@rcn.com.