Brecksville UMC cookbook encourages joyful gatherings 

by Emily Canning-Dean 

During a perusal of the library at Brecksville United Methodist Church, visitors will find a variety of cookbooks, created by church members, on the shelves. 

“Our church has been in the community since 1814 so there have been a bunch of cookbooks published over the years,” said Melanie Smith of Brecksville UMC. “Although I think our last cookbook came out at some point in the 90s.” 

But late last year, church members decided to continue the tradition with the release of their newest cookbook, Joyful Gatherings, which became available in December. 

“It was a really fun project and we have more than 300 recipes in the cookbook in all different categories,” Smith said. “We had about 150 different contributors to the book which includes members of the church and friends of members.” 

Smith said the church chose the name Joyful Gatherings as joyful gathering is one of the core values of the church. 

“We thought what is a more joyful gathering than gathering for food,” she said. 

Copies of the cookbook are $15 each and can be purchased at the church, 65 Public Square, Brecksville, or online at brecksvilleumc.com. 

“So far, it has been pretty well received,” Smith said. “I think we printed 500 copies and we sold a bunch over Christmas, but there are plenty of copies left and they will remain on sale until we have sold all of [them].” 

Proceeds from the sale of the book will support various ministries at Brecksville UMC. 

“We are pretty well known for our bike repair ministry, where we take donated bikes, fix them up and get them out to people who need them,” Smith said. “We started that ministry back in 2015. We donate the bikes all throughout Northeast Ohio including foster programs and urban ministries. We also host a lot of recovery groups at our church as well as exercise classes, music lessons and Scout troops.” 

Smith said the cookbook was the brainchild of Matt Gabor, who is part of the church’s alternative revenue team. She said Gabor and Kim Vann even created a fun YouTube video to encourage people to submit recipes for the book. 

“We are also very grateful for the support of some local advertisers who helped to offset the costs of printing,” she said. 

Smith said Brecksville UMC is planning on some additional fundraisers later this year. “Last year we did a flea market in August and we plan to do that again this year,” she said. “That is planned for the second week of August. We also did a pumpkin patch last year and we plan to do that again in October. Last year we had the pumpkin patch for two weeks, but I think this year we are looking to do it for three weeks. It was so much fun. Our whole church yard was filled with 750 pumpkins. Families would come by and take pictures and purchase pumpkins. Whenever we do fundraisers, we want to make sure they are something that is also for the community.” 

Photo caption: Brecksville UMC released their newest cookbook, Joyful Gatherings, in December. Photo by Anthy Imes.