Submitted photo Dave Fidram prepares the meal for a church event at Austintown Baptist Church. Fidram has been planning, preparing and serving home-cooked hot meals to those in need for decades.

AUSTINTOWN — Whether at Heart Reach Ministries in downtown Youngstown in 2010, or at Austintown Baptist Church as recently as this past month, the Mahoning Valley has long been united by the welcoming scent of hot, home-cooked meals prepared by a local man known for his desire to serve.

What has become a tradition for area residents has been a lifestyle for Dave Fidram of Austintown who has prepared and served free meals to thousands of diners for nearly two decades.

For Fidram, a kitchen isn’t just a place to prepare food — it’s a sanctuary.

“I always had a dream of opening up a small family restaurant but that did not happen so I wanted to use my gift God gave me to help people,” Fidram explained. “It is just something God put on my heart to do.”

Fidram started cooking and serving free meals at Heart Reach while attending Upper Room Ministries in Austintown.

“A group of us used to go to Heart Reach and I used to cook home-cooked meals for the less fortunate people once a month and we would serve them a nice hot meal and share a gospel message with them,” he said.

His outreach efforts expanded into his own Second Chance Ministries, first based in Austintown before moving to Cornersburg, where he and a group of volunteers prepared dinners served on site during various music programs, Bible readings and other events.

The outreach also featured clothing and nursing home ministries.

At least once a month, Fidram would prepare full-course hot meals and volunteers would serve them on site to the people in attendance, or deliver them to shut-ins, elderly or disabled individuals.

These days, Fidram is among a group of volunteers that works together to prepare and serve free community dinners at Austintown Baptist Church one Thursday a month.

“We have people from every walk of life come here,” he said. “Some people have no one. Some people run out of money for food. Some people just want a home-cooked meal and when you see smiles on people’s faces and lonely people talking with others and you are showing them the love of God, there is no greater joy.

“To have people stand in line to wait for a seat because you have shown them the love of God and they come back time after time. That’s a wonderful thing to be a part of, a blessing that God allows me to continue to be a part of. I am very grateful for that,” Fidram said.

He describes himself as “just a simple country boy from a family of 10 that was raised on a farm in Canfield.” He started working more than 50 years ago at Skylark, a little restaurant in Canfield.

“When I first started attending Austintown Baptist Church, I had no plans on doing anything except going to church to worship and sit on the sideline,” he said.

“I was planning on retiring. I had been cooking for people for over 50 years, but God had a different plan for my life. You know, when you work for God, there is no retiring. He just moves you from season to season to be used by Him. And I love using the gift God has given me to plan, organize and cook meals for people.”

AT THE TABLE

When you arrive at Austintown Baptist Church for one of the free community dinners, you are treated as if you are at a restaurant. Volunteers greet and seat you. Someone will come to your table to serve drinks. Next, dinner is served. Finally, someone brings you dessert, and afterwards, another volunteer clears your table. At times, volunteers serve up to 100 people.

“The only difference is you will never get a bill because Jesus paid it in full,” Fidram said. “We come together as one in the body of Christ to share the love of Christ for this is our Father’s house and all are welcome at His table.”

Tracy Craft-Whiteley is one of the volunteers who has continued working with Fidram over the years.

“It’s a wonderful thing that he does and he loves to do it, to help people and to feed anybody out there who wants and needs a home cooked meal, the fellowship, having people who care,” she said.

“He says it’s God who is in control of it and he just does the cooking. But he encourages and inspires a lot of people. He inspires me to want to be part of something that helps so many people.”

CELEBRATING RECOVERY

Fidram also assists with a Celebrate Recovery program at the church every Thursday.

Attendees gather at 6 p.m. before breaking into small groups at 7 p.m. Men and women meet separately in the small groups.

“It helps people deal with their hurts, habits and hang-ups in a biblical way,” he explained. “You meet people from every walk of life dealing with different issues in their lives.

He also facilitates a 12-step program at the church for men on Tuesdays. Holly Homa oversees the women’s 12 step program.

“We are all broken people in a different season of our lives and this program gives them hope,” Fidram said. “No matter what they’re going through, there is a biblical way to address it and find freedom from it and his name is Jesus and he has all the right answers”

“I love sharing the love of Jesus with people. If it was not for Him, I could not do what I do. He gets all the credit.”

Fidram said donations of paper plates, utensils and other dinner items are appreciated.

For more information about the dinners, to volunteer or contribute, contact Fidram at 330-986-0593 or email Austintownbaptist@gmail.com.