Oct 01

EHMA, Samaritan Center Team Up to Encourage Teachers

Carol Verrill, Collegedale Church children’s ministries pastor, leads prayer with a local teacher carside during the seventh annual Drive-Thru Lunch and Blessing event on August 1, 2024. The event is hosted by the East Hamilton Ministerial Association and the Samaritan Center.

Brandi Dixon

More than 500 educators from 10 schools across eastern Hamilton County in Tennessee drove through this year’s free lunch and prayer event. Educators from the 10 schools in eastern Hamilton County are invited to come out for a free meal and prayer as they start the new school year.

Brandi Dixon

Carol Verrill, Collegedale Church children’s ministries pastor, leads prayer with a local teacher carside during the seventh annual Drive-Thru Lunch and Blessing event on August 1, 2024. The event is hosted by the East Hamilton Ministerial Association and the Samaritan Center.

Brandi Dixon

More than 500 educators from 10 schools across eastern Hamilton County in Tennessee drove through this year’s free lunch and prayer event. Educators from the 10 schools in eastern Hamilton County are invited to come out for a free meal and prayer as they start the new school year.

Brandi Dixon

Carol Verrill, Collegedale Church children’s ministries pastor, leads prayer with a local teacher carside during the seventh annual Drive-Thru Lunch and Blessing event on August 1, 2024. The event is hosted by the East Hamilton Ministerial Association and the Samaritan Center.

Brandi Dixon

More than 500 educators from 10 schools across eastern Hamilton County in Tennessee drove through this year’s free lunch and prayer event. Educators from the 10 schools in eastern Hamilton County are invited to come out for a free meal and prayer as they start the new school year.

Brandi Dixon

Since 2017, the East Hamilton Ministerial Association (EHMA) has partnered with the Samaritan Center to host the annual Drive-Thru Lunch and Blessing event on the first Thursday in August.

Members of EHMA deliver tickets for the event to 10 schools in eastern Hamilton County, inviting all their teachers and staff to come out for a free meal and prayer, if they would like, drive-thru style in the Samaritan Center’s parking lot.

The 2024 event was the largest to date, with more than 500 teachers driving to the Samaritan Center, enjoying a free lunch, and receiving prayer to begin their school year. To help make the event a success, several area businesses also supported the event, including Chick-fil-A Ooltewah, Pizza Hut, Tropical Cuisine, and Publix at Snow Hill Village.

“We really appreciate it and look forward to it every year,” said Judy Evans, Ooltewah Middle School receptionist. “This year, we came in a van with several of us, and the prayer was just wonderful. We really needed it. It was a great opportunity for us to come out and receive something that’s so enriching.”

Not only do teachers benefit from this annual outreach effort, but those who come to serve glean much from it as well.

“Since moving to the South in 2021, the drive-thru teacher lunch has been a blessing to me personally,” said Melody Wallace, current EHMA president. “To be able to talk to teachers, support staff, and administrators and find out about their needs is very educational, and then to pray about these concerns and ask God to give them peace in any chaotic situations that will arrive is encouraging to both them and me.”

Brandi Dixon

Georgia-Cumberland | October 2024