Manheim Central JULY 9, 2025
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Picnic Will Feature Faith and Fellowship
See Picnic pg 4
See Hope pg 3
“Our church picnic grove has a nice, warm, relaxing atmosphere.”
Ruhl’s Church members prepare chicken corn soup for the church’s community picnic.
kitchen slicing and cutting homemade desserts, dicing onions and peppers to top grilled sandwiches and preparing to dip ice cream. Takeout chicken corn soup, pies, cakes and other desserts will be available for purchase starting at 9 a.m. “You may bring your own containers for soup, or you may buy it in prepackaged quart containers,”
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Gail remarked. “The lunch menu includes soup, hamburgers, cheeseburgers, hot dogs, hot sausage sandwiches, homemade desserts, ice cream and beverages.” Along with homemade food, the picnic provides a way for church members to connect with the wider community. “Our church picnic grove has a nice, warm, relaxing atmosphere.
F
aith, fellowship and tasty food will be in the spotlight when Ruhl’s Church hosts its annual community picnic. The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, July 19, at the church’s picnic grove, 2766 Newport Road, Manheim. “Why do we hold the annual community picnic, you may ask? Well, it is a tradition. But it is also for fellowship and enjoyment,” shared Gail Ruhl, picnic planning committee member. “We believe our picnic offers an informal place to see our congregation in action, working and laughing together side by side.”
As Gail explained, the picnic is a major undertaking for the church members. “Preparations for the community picnic begin early in the week when members of our church gather together to ready the grove for visitors,” she said. “We make sure all is clean and in working order for the cooking to begin. Several days before the picnic, we cook and debone approximately 550 pounds of chicken. Starting very early on the day of the picnic, we begin mixing and cooking our traditional chicken corn soup following a recipe that has been used for generations.” While the soup is cooking, she noted, volunteers are busy in the
Hope Lives Here
In 2014, Mable and John Hershey saw a need in their community and felt called to act. They realized a personal care home on Cherry Street in Columbia faced closure, displacing its residents. “Being the kind of people we are, we said, ‘Let’s see what we can do to maybe keep it open,’” Mable recalled. “We’re people that have a caring heart. We knew these 30 people living there would not have a home to live in if this had to close.” For the next three years, the Hersheys began the arduous work of turning the home into a nonprofit organization and improving the site. “Through many miracles of people giving us funds, we were able to make it a nonprofit and make improvements to the home,” Mable shared. Neither Mable nor John had any experience running a nonprofit. “We were farmers before this,” Mable said. They relied on their faith and help from friends, forming a board and soliciting donations for the project. The residents were able to stay in the home during the process, and in June of 2017, Our Home of Hope was born. The prior owner had chosen the name, hoping to create a nonprofit. “She had chosen that name because she believed for the people who come there, it is their home of hope,” Mable said. Our Home of Hope can house up to 30 people, none of whom have the funds to enter a traditional personal care home. “ We take low-income, private-pay people who can afford the monthly charge,” Mable explained. “They have to be able to move around by themselves.
BY CAT SHANNON
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