For three weeks after baby Marnie was born a stream of visitors arrived at her family’s door with food.
“It was a huge blessing,” said mum Emma Woods, who now co-ordinates her church’s meals-for-new-parents. “Knowing just how much it meant to us at the time, I was very keen for others to be blessed in that way too.”
Emma and her husband Tom joined Crossroads church in Earlham, Norwich, when Tom became its schools and families minister last year.
Their second baby, Marnie, was born shortly afterwards, and one of the congregation, also a mum of young children, put together a meal rota.
“It was invaluable,” said Emma. “People were so generous. Many not only provided enough food to feed us but they would also bring extras like a nice drink, a pudding or a gift for our then two-year-old, Arlo.
“It was also a great way for us to get to know lots of people from the church. We felt touched by people who didn’t yet know us who gave up their time to cook a meal and drop it off.”
Now Emma uses a free website to co-ordinate meals for the parents of new babies.
“People cook all sorts of food from pasta dishes, sausage and mash, casseroles and pies and even roast dinners,” said Emma, who works as a baby-massage instructor. She said the meal rota was a way for the church family to show love in a practical way.
“I know first-hand how it feels in the early days of adjusting to having a baby. The recovery from giving birth, the sleep deprivation, the wave of emotions. It can be hard to do everything straight away and so providing parents with meals for a short period of time means one less thing for them to have to think about or do – which allows them more time to rest and soak up all the newborn cuddles!”
New mum Rachel said: “It was amazing to experience the care of others and it was special to see how generous people were with their time and effort – we valued it and noted it and felt the love. It helped to build upon acquaintances and friendships too with the bonus of having doorstop conversations or quick cuppas when the deliveries were made. And Nikki said: “Having meals provided by our church family when Phoebe was born was a huge blessing. Not having to think about shopping and cooking gave us the space to focus on our new family…We felt incredibly loved and supported.”
Food is an important part of the ministry at Crossroads and includes a ‘give and take’ food and toiletries table at the Monday toddler group in the church hall and at the Wednesday Café Church at St Elizabeth’s. On Thursdays there is breakfast and Zumba at St Elizabeth’s, a foodbank and a community coffee morning.