Hospitality at The First Church

Fellowship Hour occurs each week after our Sunday worship service. Members and friends of The First Church volunteer to host Fellowship each week - either the adult table in the Cleveland Room, the Children's Table in the Barnard Room - or both! Fellowship mentors are available for any "first-timers", and Fellowship angels are known to support Fellowship anonymously from the wings. Contact the church office for further information on volunteering to host Fellowship at firstchurch @ nii.net.

A few notes on hosting Fellowship at The First Church:

Thank you for hosting Fellowship Hour at the First Church!!

We are firm believers in hospitality. What follows are a few suggestions and tips for making your hosting experience rewarding and enjoyable:

1. You are hosting a simple reception. Have fun and enjoy the process. This is a great way to get know new people and be a part of the community.
2. Feel free to keep it simple. Sometimes people like to prepare an elaborate spread. That is not what is expected. Keeping it modest and inexpensive is fine and even encouraged.
3. Hosting Fellowship Hour involves coming a little early to prepare and then staying a little late to help clean up. Consider arriving at the church between 9:30 and 10:00 a.m. Our Sexton extraordinaire, Joe Perron, is there to help you and provide guidance as well. Other church members are happy to help too. Just ask.
4. Remember to bring 1.5 quarts and a half of Half & Half and one lemon. Typically this is the responsibility of the person covering the Children’s Table.

Food Preparation / Before the service:

Put out in appropriate plates anything that will be fine on the table for an hour to an hour and a half; i.e. cookies, cheese and crackers, cut lemon, etc. Anything that needs to be taken from the refrigerator or heated in the oven, please get it all set up and leave Joe a note or ask him if he would do that at the last minute. Generally we need one or two sweet goodies and one or two non-sweet goodies at each table. The Kids Table provider should also bring a quart of half and half (or part of that could be low fat milk) and one lemon.

Some hosts prefer to leave the service during the last hymn to be prepared. This is left up to the discretion of the host(s) and their comfort level.

Cleanup / After the service:

Please bring back into the kitchen the food, and coffee and tea trays around 12:30. Before then, feel free to help clear cups, saucers, plates, etc. that are obviously finished. (This is a great way to chat with people you don’t know.) You are responsible for putting away leftovers. Joe loads the dishwasher.

Please avoid serving anything with nuts since we have some kids with allergies. If you are going to serve a tasty treat with nuts, please put a little label or sign next to it.

Thank you for your help!
As we take turns, this makes it pleasant and easy for all.

The Fellowship Committee:

Joan Hannah, Don Glover, Alicia Diozzi and Jennifer Barz-Snell