Community Freezer

"The people were so very kind...I felt only love, not judgment. I used to go elsewhere in fear of encountering people who knew me or worse, my Mom, as she would've been mortified that I was supplementing our thin grocery with donations. I was embarrassed but they made me feel as though it was perfectly natural. There's something very base about feeding others. Giving life & love through food.” – Melrose recipient

Sunday Free Meals from the Melrose Community Freezer is a weekly distribution of free nutritious, balanced frozen meals, in which guests select from a wide range of offerings prepared and donated by community cooks.

A partnership between First United Methodist Church of Melrose and The Food Drive, the Free Meals program is held every Sunday from 11:30 AM to 12:00 PM at the church, which is centrally located at 645 Main Street in Melrose. The Melrose Community Freezer is housed at FUMC and stocked with individual and family-style meals by volunteer cooks, plus donations from local businesses Buckalew’s General Store, Harrow’s Chicken Pies, and personal chef/bakery Mama Jean.

All are welcome to visit and choose healthy frozen meals at no cost; no proof of residency or income is required. Meals are offered in the chapel, which is just inside the front doors of the church and accessible for mobility-impaired guests via a ramp to the side door.  Each guest chooses three frozen meals from a wide selection organized by category by volunteers. To accompany each meal, guests may also choose from homemade treats made with love by children and youth at FUMC, in addition to local bakers. Since its launch in early 2022, the Melrose Community Freezer program has provided over 700 meals, thanks to donations from the Melrose FUMC congregation and volunteer cooks.

The long-term goal of the program is to include a particular focus on maintaining an inventory of entrees for specific dietary needs, including vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, low fat, dairy free, and low salt…items that are not always readily available at pantries and soup kitchens.