Members of First Baptist Church in Gloucester have a goal, and their recent Old Fashioned Soul Dinner was one of many events to help them reach it. The church members are “aggressively” working for their new Fellowship Hall and according to associate minister Katrina White Brown, “It will take three years for it to be a reality.”

Katrina, who holds a master’s degree in divinity and is studying to become ordained, spoke for the Women’s Ministry, the sponsors of this fabulous dinner. The menu: baked and fried chicken, pigs’ feet, baked ham, venison, macaroni and cheese, black-eyed peas, collard greens, corn pudding, stewed tomatoes, green beans, pasta salad, potato salad, rolls pies, cakes and drinks. “And it’s all homemade,” she said.

Preparing for 125 people, Teri Redcross-Ali and Terry Osborne headed up this dinner. “The food was made and prepared by the best cooks you ever want to know, at their homes and then brough...