A Tuesday fish fry at Cincinnati Center Hill

by Hugo Bravo

The men’s ministry at The Salvation Army Cincinnati, Ohio, Center Hill Corps comes together on Tuesday nights to watch faith-based movies, discuss Scripture, or bond and engage in conversation. But no matter the activity of the night, the key feature of every gathering is sharing a meal together.

“Sometimes the food is donated; other days, one of the men in the group will cook for everyone,” says Auxiliary Captain Bradley Harris, pastor at the Center Hill Corps. “The food served really makes a difference in our meetings. It’s all very casual, but we have lively discussions every time.”

In September, the men’s ministry used one of its Tuesday nights to host a fish fry fundraiser at the corps. The money raised would help send some of its members to men’s camp and other Salvation Army activities. Thanks to a donation of frozen fish from a local distributor, the men served close to 75 people. Along with friends and family of members of the corps, many of the fish fry attendees were residents from The Salvation Army’s low-income senior housing apartments, located next to the corps.

The men’s ministry also pitched in to serve food, drinks, and dessert. The corps had received a donation of three fryers, and two of the men plus a member of the corps’ women’s ministry, a trained chef, handled the cooking.

“The chef and her husband were very helpful making sure that we were operating the fryers properly and avoiding any grease fires,” says Captain Bradley.

Though he admits the event had a few hang-ups, like the corps’ circuit breaker popping because the air fryers were all running in unison, Captain Bradley says that he looks forward to having the event again.

“We had originally planned for about 50 people, but luckily we had some food reserves for the extra people who came,” says Captain Bradley. “Even the men were surprised with the attendance. This was the type of event that would usually occur on a Friday or Saturday night, but we had a great turnout for a Tuesday evening.”