LTUMC Hospitality – Purpose, Roles and Procedures
Purpose of Hospitality:
Immediately following the church service LTUMC hosts a Hospitality period in the Fellowship Hall for the purpose of meeting, welcoming and spending some time with new members, visitors and old acquaintances.
The hosts/hostesses for the Hospitality period are volunteers. In order to lighten the load for the volunteers we are establishing a policy of no more than one sweet and one savory food item to go along with coffee and tea provided by LTUMC. The purpose of the food is to make the Hospitality period more comfortable and extend the period by providing everyone with the opportunity to have a light snack and a beverage while enjoying a time of fellowship.
The Role of LTUMC:
Hospitality will be held indoors in the Fellowship Hall. LTUMC will provide all paper products, coffee, tea, creamer, sugar, and artificial sweeteners. The Church Administrator will keep track of the inventory of supplies and will replenish the supplies as necessary.
Role of the Hospitality Chair:
- Recruit and encourage church members to volunteer/sign up as hosts and/or hostesses for Hospitality.
- Oversee the Hospitality signup list both in the Fellowship Hall (paper and pen signup) and on the web site. The process will require coordination with the Church Administrator to get the volunteers actually on the church web site while avoiding duplication. It will also require monitoring the website calendar to ensure that volunteers have signed up for future Sundays. When there are upcoming Sundays without volunteers, then the Chair needs to recruit.
- When a volunteer signs up, a copy of this document should be shared with them so that they understand everyone’s role and the procedures that need to be followed as a volunteer host/hostess.
- A weekly call should be made to remind Hospitality Volunteer(s) that their host/hostess duty is upcoming the following Sunday. In that call the volunteer should be queried as to whether or not they are familiar and comfortable with the procedures that were sent to them.
- The Chair should prepare a backup plan in the event that a volunteer host/hostess is suddenly not available. The backup plan could be a short list of regular attendees that are willing to step up even at the last moment to provide for minimal Hospitality items. At the bare minimum, the plan should provide for a “beverage only” Sunday where someone just makes the coffee so that Hospitality can occur.
- The Chair should monitor cleanliness and condition of items used for Hospitality and if necessary, get a volunteer to take tablecloths, dish towels/linens home for washing while returning them in time for the next Sunday.
Role and Procedures for the Hospitality Volunteer for Coffee Hour:
- Hospitality volunteers can sign up in the Fellowship Hall and request a specific date to volunteer, or alternatively, they can let the Hospitality Chair, or the Church Administrator know of a specific date for which they would like to volunteer.
- Volunteer(s) will be reminded the week prior to their volunteer date.
- Prepare or purchase no more than one sweet and one savory food item. Bring the food with you to church on your volunteer date. Please plan to arrive 45 minutes to an hour before service time to start the coffee & food table preparation
For Summer Sundays:
Plan for ~80-90 people from June – September
For Winter Sundays:
Plan for ~ 35 people from October – May
Make coffee:
- Both decaf and regular coffee will be provided and opened containers are in the refrigerator. If a new container is needed please check the storage closet
- Fill the urn in the kitchen sink with water to the max line. A full urn makes 32 cups. Add 3 cups of coffee grinds into the basket and place on top of the percolator metal rod and place inside the urn. A 1 cup scoop is inside the cabinet just to the right of the sink.
- Should you choose to make a partial urn of coffee, coffee measurements are posted on the inside of the cabinet door just to the right of the sink.
- Use the carts to move the urns back and forth from the kitchen to the serving area. Please ensure the coffee urns are plugged in and on so coffee is ready when the service is complete. Place cups or add new ones in front of the urns.
- Set out food, plates, napkins on the kitchen island and, if necessary, move chairs to the walls from overflow church service. Platters are in the cabinets under the island.
Clean up after Hospitality includes:
- Package leftover items and take them home with you. Do not leave leftover food. There are Ziploc storage bags that may use in the storage closet.
- Put everything in the dishwasher, dishwasher tabs are under the sink & start it. (Coffee urn lids, hot water lid, baskets, and rods, platters etc.)
- Clean out the coffee urns (ask someone to help if too heavy for you) and place back on rolling carts with lids off to allow air flow into coffee urns. Used coffee grinds should be thrown away in the trash bag and not down the sink.
- Replace paper towels by the sink as needed - they are located in the storage closet.
- Place a new garbage bag in can and take all trash with you. (LTUMC does not have trash service.)
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