Thursday, April 20, 2000

Godfather’s Pizza is the first restaurant to assist the Salvation Army Austin Corps free community dinner program.

Andy Fuhrman, the restaurant’s manager, delivered the pizzas himself Wednesday for the midday meal.

"We just hope to get others to help out, too," Fuhrman said. "We’re donating single-topping pizzas today and we just hope to get the ball rolling for others to help this worthy project. It’s worth doing."

The Salvation Army community center hosts Wednesday midday and Monday evening meals for the hungry in Austin.

Since the program began, churches and other organizations have prepared and served the food twice weekly.

Now, the sponsors of the program hope to expand the network of generous people.

"We hope other restaurants will come on board and join us," said Capt. Doug Yeck, officer in charge. "We appreciate what the Godfather’s Pizza restaurant is doing. It’s really gratifying to see them involved and we hope other restaurants will follow the example."

Also Wednesday marked the debut of the Owen Jones family. Mr. Jones, deceased, was a highly respected soldier in the Salvation Army for many years.

Recently, the Salvation Army mourned the loss of another revered volunteer, Charley Jones.

On Wednesday, another generation volunteered their services.

Dawn Wester, a niece of Charley Jones, brought her daughters, Kara, 14, and Lisa, 10, plus a son, Andrew, 7, to the community center, where they volunteered their services to serve food, wash dishes and clean up after the diners.

Mrs. Wester homeschools her children and said the community service project was an extension of their life-skills education.

The free community dinner meals are served 11:30 a.m. to noon Wednesday and 5:30 to 6 p.m. Monday.

According to Yeck, the Salvation Army is considering adding another date, possibly Tuesday, to its schedule of free meals for the hungry.

Also coming this summer will be another summer feeding program if grant monies can be obtained.

Thus far, the twice-weekly meals have attracted between 40 and 65 people each Monday and Wednesday, but that wasn’t the case Wednesday.

Yeck was undaunted by the low turnout, less than 15, on Wednesday. "If we had only 10 people a day I would be happy," he said. "There’s a need for this in Austin."

Anyone interested in assisting the free community dinner program may call 437-4566 for more information.