Christ’s Table taking some time before fully re-opening

ZANESVILLE – Although non-essential businesses and restaurants continue to reopen this week, Christ’s Table is taking some time before following suit.

The organizations’ Executive Director Keely Warden is waiting to see how many increases in the number of cases occurs locally after eateries re-open and serve customers in their buildings before re-opening the dining area at Christ’s Table.

“Right now, we’re going to be continuing to serve the way that we have since the pandemic started just because we want it to be the safest way possible for the people that we serve but also the safest way for the people who are serving. We utilize a lot of different volunteers here at Christ’s Table and our staff is very important to us too so we want to make sure that everyone is protected,” Christ’s Table Executive Director Keely Warden said.

Warden said that it would take about six hours to serve the amount of people it does currently from out of its back door if each person was seated in Christ’s Table’s dining area. Staff has seen an uptick in meals that have been given out each day since the pandemic has started and they serve all of the people within about two hours who are coming to receive meals.

“Our numbers are up. We were up right around 425 (or) 450 meals there for a while but once the stimulus checks are coming out and I think people are getting back to work, our numbers have come back down into perspective about 300 or 350 a day which is still about 100 more meals that we were serving before the pandemic hit,” Warden said.

Warden does not know when the building’s dining area will re-open but she very tentatively said that this could be seen in the later summer months.