Feeding Waterville

There seems to be few things that draw people together or create relationships like food. Starting last year, a group of us from Waterville Valley Community Church have hosted a free monthly dinner for the employees at the resort. What began as a small meal where the volunteers outnumbered the attendees has grown into a special community where we can take relationships that begin on the hill to connect and love people.

Every Sunday as the service concludes, the church team invites church attendees to help love the resort community by passing out cookies to lifties, instructors, and any other employees they can find. These cookies are a great starting point of service and relationship, but we’ve found these meals so beneficial to go deeper. These dinners provide a platform to linger for an hour or more, ask good questions, and share life for a bit. They also create a space to serve an underserved population within our ski communities with a home cooked meal and impressive dessert table (thanks to the LMM Monday Coffee Ladies). Most importantly, we get to share the Good News in short and simple ways through the blessing of the food, meaningful conversation, and lasting relationships. It helps us become familiar faces and friends as we continue to see the employees and reconnect on the mountain.

The majority of the attendees are international workers, mostly from South America, that live in the employee housing adjacent to the conference center and will be with us for only the season. In ski ministry, global missions truly come to us. Spending time with an instructor from Brazil at the last meal, we laughed over his gratitude to eat something besides chili, instant soup, or pizza (which he said has been his only meals for the last three weeks) while he also shared what he has appreciated about his experience working at Waterville and his hopes for his future.

Although, we have hosted our last meal at this point. We’re so amazed by the connections God has created through these times as well as how He will continue to use this service in future seasons.