Emporia’s hot meal program that feeds nearly 1,100 people a month will continue under a new name and at a new location, preventing the loss of a resource that has been vital in addressing food insecurity in the area.
When the Emporia Rescue Mission Board announced plans in late August to close Abundant Harvest on Oct. 1, local leaders quickly moved to find a way to ensure those who relied on the program would not go without meals.
United Way of the Flint Hills (UWFH) and the city of Emporia quickly stepped in to help the program continue operations until the end of the year. With the city allocating $25,000 for operations and United Way providing support, Abundant Harvest remained open and continued providing meals through the end of 2025, with its final service Wednesday.
“The operations have stayed with Abundant Harvest. We’ve just been able to help them bridge the gap so they can continue through the end of the year,” said Daphne Mertens, UWFH director.
In the meantime, UWFH began searching for a community partner that could take on the operations of Abundant Harvest. Staff reached out to several nonprofits, community organizations and churches, and many groups also approached United Way, hoping to make something work.
“We reached out to many, and many reached out to us,” Mertens said. “The community has had a real interest in seeing this move forward.”
Through Tyler Curtis, an Emporia city commissioner and member of the United Methodist Foundation, UWFH was able to begin conversations with Grace United Methodist Church and First United Methodist Church. The Lyon County Ministerial Alliance also joined the discussion to determine how they could assist the church that took on the program.
Ultimately, Grace United Methodist Church agreed to host the meals and continue the program under a new name: Abundant Grace.
“We did want to keep the ‘Abundant’ part of the name, because it’s recognizable, but also we wanted to identify that it’s now at a new location,” Mertens said. “Since they’re Grace United Methodist, it was just an easy transition to say we’re going to call it Abundant Grace.”
Abundant Grace will continue the same basic operations and schedule as Abundant Harvest. Meals will be available for drive-through pickup Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 4 p.m. The only major difference will be the location, as meals will now be handed out from Grace United Methodist Church at 2 Neosho St.
Meals will be prepared in the morning at the church, individually packaged and refrigerated to be handed out later in the day.
The Emporia Rescue Mission Board has played a key role in the transition, offering equipment to the new team and allowing them to visit and observe operations.
“They have given quite a bit of the equipment, pretty much anything we’ve asked them to pass along,” Mertens said. “They’ve been very forthcoming and answered questions the whole time.”
Mertens said she and other UWFH staff see the importance of a program like Abundant Grace every day through their interactions with residents struggling to find food.
“There’s not a day that goes by that we don’t get a call or a message from someone that they are hungry, that they don’t have food,” she said. “If we look at 1,100 meals no longer being there, we know that it would be devastating for our community.”
Mertens credited the support of a broad number of community organizations and partners with keeping the effort alive.
“We are just very fortunate that we have such a supportive community and such supportive leaders,” she said. “It couldn’t have been done by United Way alone.”
Mertens says that the program will need volunteers and financial support to make it sustainable.
Those wishing to volunteer may call 620-342-7564 or email Daphne@uwfh.org.
To donate to emergency food relief, visit the UWFH website, click the donate button on the upper right-hand side, and select emergency food relief as the reason for donation.
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By: Austin Hoagland | December 30th, 2025