Emily Haack and Abby Henderson were both pregnant when they started the Meals for Moms ministry, and they made a point to make sure people knew this ministry wasn’t quite as self-serving as it seemed when they launched it to the Catholic parishes of Ankeny.
Being pregnant did help, though, because it meant they knew firsthand the blessings involved in receiving a meal from someone in the whirlwind that is the first few months after having a baby.
Meals for Moms provides 10-12 meals over the course of 3-4 weeks for anyone in the Catholic community of St. Luke’s and Our Lady’s who has recently added a child to their family through birth or adoption, or needs some extra help due to a hospital stay, surgery/injury recovery, loss of a loved one, cancer treatments, and other major life transitions.
Meal help can be requested here. Once a request is received Emily and Abby creat a meal train with the details provided and send it out to the volunteer list of more than 80 volunteers. Special requests, like food allergies, likes & dislikes (ex: not too spicy, no onions, etc.) are easily handled and chefs contact the recipient on their delivery day to set up a drop-off time.
In just over 6 years Meals for Moms has provided more than 120 meal trains to parishioners for a total of more than 1,200 meals to local families. What a beautiful way to build and support our Catholic community!
Volunteer “chefs” from both St. Luke’s and Our Lady’s sign up to bring meals as they are able. To sign up as a chef - please click here at fill out the form. If you don’t consider yourself much of a chef, gift cards are also encouraged!
To get involved:
Contact Meals for Moms at mealsformomsankeny@gmail.com
or fill in one of the forms above to sign-up or request a meal train.