The First Congregational Church of Rindge’s Got Lunch program will be moving from the Rindge church parsonage to the United Church of Jaffrey, but won’t impact the operation of the program, according to organizers.

The Got Lunch program provides access to breakfast and lunch meals during weekends, school breaks and summer vacations for children in need. It currently provides weekend meals for about 29 students in the Jaffrey-Rindge School District, and about 88 children during vacations.

Becky Beaton, the program coordinator for the Got Lunch program, said that the program originally was housed in the Rindge First Congregational Church, but was growing out of that space. The church owned a parsonage, which was not being used as the current pastor already had a house they were not interested in leaving. The Got Lunch program moved into the parsonage in 2022. Recently, the church made the decision to sell the parsonage, and the Got Lunch program began to look for a new home.

Beaton said her first choice was the United Church of Jaffrey, which is the same denomination, within the Jaffrey-Rindge district and already has several food-based missions. 

Owen Houghton, a member of the Christian Concerns Ministry at the United Church of Jaffrey, said it made sense to them, too. The Got Lunch program will remain a ministry of the First Congregational Church of Rindge, but will also now be a partnership with the United Church of Jaffrey.

“We have what we’re calling our hunger ministry, that keeps expanding as the needs do,” Houghton said.

Those include a food pantry, which will now be next to the Got Lunch program, serving as a hub for Meals on Wheels deliveries and a congregate meal every week.

“This fits well with our current ministries,” Houghton said. “The Got Lunch program slips right in there as an addendum.”

Beaton said the move will have some logistical benefits because of the other food ministries the Jaffrey church is already conducting. For example, she said both Got Lunch and the food pantry receive food from the New Hampshire Food Bank, and the food bank makes deliveries directly to the church parking lot. Previously the Got Lunch program would have to pick up its portion.

Beaton said they also share a similar pool of volunteers, and about three-quarters of the children Got Lunch serves live in Jaffrey, wjhich will result in delivery drivers having shorter routes during the summer months.

“It makes sense to partner with Jaffrey, because at the end of the day, this is a Jaffrey-Rindge ministry,” Beaton said.

This weekend, with the assistance of 12 volunteers, the move was made official.

“We’re excited to be in the new space, and the timing is perfect, because April vacation is coming, and we’ll be ready,” said Beaton.

Those interested in donating to the Got Lunch program can sent a check made out to the Jaffrey-Rindge Got Lunch program to the First Congregational Church in Rindge, at P.O. Box 451 in Rindge. People who are interested in volunteering should send Beaton an email at gotlunch@rindgeucc.org.

Ashley Saari can be reached at 603-924-7172, Ext. 244, or asaari@ledgertranscript.com. She’s on X @AshleySaariMLT.