November 6, 2025 • 5 mins
Chris Palusky, CEO of Mel Trotter Ministries, joins us to discuss stepping up meals in times of need, coat donations needed for winter, and the upcoming Turkey Drop.
More information can be found here: https://meltrotter.org/
More information can be found here: https://meltrotter.org/
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, it's kind of interesting that we are three
weeks away from Thanksgiving and a lot of us are
thinking about the inconvenience of all the stuff that we
got to buy and travel or get people to stay
with us when they're an awful lot of Americans now
more than ever, in the middle of this government shutdown
that are relying on us to step up. This is
West Michigan's Morning News Steve Kelly and Brett mckati. Chris
(00:22):
Puluski is the CEO of Meltrotter Ministries in studio with us. Chris,
thanks for taking time today.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Thanks for having me today. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Let's talk a little bit first and foremost about ways
that you are stepping up at Meltrotter dot Org. I
saw a video and I said, we got to get
Chris in here to talk about that, because you guys
provide meals for people that need them. We have more
people than ever that need meals, these snap benefits. Nobody
knows everybody's panicking right Some shelters are having trouble stocking
(00:52):
shelves with food. How basically can you help those who
may be hungry right now?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
We want to be a solution. In fact, we've said
we want to invite the community for dinner. So if
people are having a hard time stretching a dollar, if
there's not benefits aren't coming through right now, we want
to be a solution. So be our guest. Come down
any day four to six and we have great dinners.
In fact, I eat there frequently and the food is
really good and we'd love to have you.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
There's a big cross on Commerce, it says Jesus saves.
That's the place to go, right.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
That's it, two two five Commerce, Come on down and
again four to six o'clock. We have wonderful meals and
we want to invite the community.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Chris, It's one of these situations and I'm dealing with
it too, with working so closely with Kids Food Basket,
who I know everyone has relationships with. Right You've talked
about the philanthropic partnerships that are out there in West
Michigan and what make us do miracles basically as far
as Grand Rapids in this community. But when we have
situations like this, talk about what goes on in the
(01:55):
mission and the need for people to really lean into
their faith in how they get that from your folks
in this crunch, in this time of need.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Sure, I mean I think we can't rely just on ourselves.
So we are a Christian organization, and in fact all
the time, but especially during times of hardship, we say,
you know what, there are solutions, and we say pray,
you know what, because you know what. God is there
for you. He is there for you, and he wants
to help you. And there are organizations that can help
(02:25):
during this time too, like Meltrotter, Come on down, we'd
love to help, to give you a meal, Kids Food
Basket another great organization, Degage Ministries another great organization. So
at Meltrotter, we believe that people are helped through the
spiritual and through the physical, and we believe that ourselves,
and there's a lot of other great organizations in town
that have that same philosophy.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Chris, same thing about temperatures. We're making light of the
fact that it's twenty one degrees in some spots this morning.
We're making light the fact that it's going to snow
this weekend and there might be some accumulation, but there
are some folks that don't have a coat, And when
you're switching out the closets, this weekend to get yourself
or your kids in a coat that you may replace.
If you've got a new or like new coat outerwear donation,
(03:10):
you're still taking them absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
In fact, gloves, boots, coats, We're going to have our
blue barrel drives. So right now people can drop their
coats off at two two five Commerce and we would
love to take them because it is going to get
cold this weekend. Also, we're going to have locations around town.
They can go at Meltrodder dot org and they can
look up the nearest location to them to drop off coats,
(03:32):
gloves and boots because you know what, we are going
to need them, especially starting this weekend.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Lastly, I mentioned this three weeks from Thanksgiving means that
we're less than two weeks away from the turkey drop
for Meltrotter ministries. Uh, talk to us a little bit
about the importance of that day, especially in the mid
of this time of greater need.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Sure, and I'll even take a step back. So a
year ago I started in this role and somebody said
you're going to go to celebration cinema and you're going
to collect turkeys, And I said what, And they actually
brought me out there. We got it there like five
thirty in the morning. We set up and I was thinking, Okay,
we're going to get some turkeys, and that's great. It
was wonderful. So we collected turkeys. We're working with of
(04:18):
course with you guys with Celebration Cinema, also with Feeding
America West Michigan, and we collected turkeys throughout the day
at all of the Celebration Cinema locations and it helped
to provide a turkey for people who didn't have enough
well let's say resources at that point in time to
get a turkey. And also this year is interesting, so
we will use those turkeys to help people to get
(04:41):
a turkey during Thanksgiving. We will also be cooking many
of those turkeys for our Thanksgiving meals. So we encourage
people to come out. It's fun, it's exciting. We had
turkeys on Gurney's with some of the ambulance systems. It
was great. It was truly a community event that was
helping people out that are just going through rough time.
But it was wonderful just to see something catalyzed bringing
(05:03):
people together rather than dividing. It brought the community together.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
By the way all the information is up that Chris
is talking about and that we're so proud to talk
about again. Go to meltrodter dot org events and the
Turkey drop stuff is up there. Goal was set for
five thousand again this year. Here we go, let's roll
it out.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Chris Pulaski is the CEO of Meltrotter Ministries. Thank you
so much for your time today.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Thank you
You know, it's kind of interesting that we are three
weeks away from Thanksgiving and a lot of us are
thinking about the inconvenience of all the stuff that we
got to buy and travel or get people to stay
with us when they're an awful lot of Americans now
more than ever, in the middle of this government shutdown
that are relying on us to step up. This is
West Michigan's Morning News Steve Kelly and Brett mckati. Chris
(00:22):
Puluski is the CEO of Meltrotter Ministries in studio with us. Chris,
thanks for taking time today.
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Thanks for having me today. I really appreciate it.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Let's talk a little bit first and foremost about ways
that you are stepping up at Meltrotter dot Org. I
saw a video and I said, we got to get
Chris in here to talk about that, because you guys
provide meals for people that need them. We have more
people than ever that need meals, these snap benefits. Nobody
knows everybody's panicking right Some shelters are having trouble stocking
(00:52):
shelves with food. How basically can you help those who
may be hungry right now?
Speaker 2 (01:00):
We want to be a solution. In fact, we've said
we want to invite the community for dinner. So if
people are having a hard time stretching a dollar, if
there's not benefits aren't coming through right now, we want
to be a solution. So be our guest. Come down
any day four to six and we have great dinners.
In fact, I eat there frequently and the food is
really good and we'd love to have you.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
There's a big cross on Commerce, it says Jesus saves.
That's the place to go, right.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
That's it, two two five Commerce, Come on down and
again four to six o'clock. We have wonderful meals and
we want to invite the community.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
Chris, It's one of these situations and I'm dealing with
it too, with working so closely with Kids Food Basket,
who I know everyone has relationships with. Right You've talked
about the philanthropic partnerships that are out there in West
Michigan and what make us do miracles basically as far
as Grand Rapids in this community. But when we have
situations like this, talk about what goes on in the
(01:55):
mission and the need for people to really lean into
their faith in how they get that from your folks
in this crunch, in this time of need.
Speaker 2 (02:05):
Sure, I mean I think we can't rely just on ourselves.
So we are a Christian organization, and in fact all
the time, but especially during times of hardship, we say,
you know what, there are solutions, and we say pray,
you know what, because you know what. God is there
for you. He is there for you, and he wants
to help you. And there are organizations that can help
(02:25):
during this time too, like Meltrotter, Come on down, we'd
love to help, to give you a meal, Kids Food
Basket another great organization, Degage Ministries another great organization. So
at Meltrotter, we believe that people are helped through the
spiritual and through the physical, and we believe that ourselves,
and there's a lot of other great organizations in town
that have that same philosophy.
Speaker 1 (02:46):
Chris, same thing about temperatures. We're making light of the
fact that it's twenty one degrees in some spots this morning.
We're making light the fact that it's going to snow
this weekend and there might be some accumulation, but there
are some folks that don't have a coat, And when
you're switching out the closets, this weekend to get yourself
or your kids in a coat that you may replace.
If you've got a new or like new coat outerwear donation,
(03:10):
you're still taking them absolutely.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
In fact, gloves, boots, coats, We're going to have our
blue barrel drives. So right now people can drop their
coats off at two two five Commerce and we would
love to take them because it is going to get
cold this weekend. Also, we're going to have locations around town.
They can go at Meltrodder dot org and they can
look up the nearest location to them to drop off coats,
(03:32):
gloves and boots because you know what, we are going
to need them, especially starting this weekend.
Speaker 1 (03:37):
Lastly, I mentioned this three weeks from Thanksgiving means that
we're less than two weeks away from the turkey drop
for Meltrotter ministries. Uh, talk to us a little bit
about the importance of that day, especially in the mid
of this time of greater need.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
Sure, and I'll even take a step back. So a
year ago I started in this role and somebody said
you're going to go to celebration cinema and you're going
to collect turkeys, And I said what, And they actually
brought me out there. We got it there like five
thirty in the morning. We set up and I was thinking, Okay,
we're going to get some turkeys, and that's great. It
was wonderful. So we collected turkeys. We're working with of
(04:18):
course with you guys with Celebration Cinema, also with Feeding
America West Michigan, and we collected turkeys throughout the day
at all of the Celebration Cinema locations and it helped
to provide a turkey for people who didn't have enough
well let's say resources at that point in time to
get a turkey. And also this year is interesting, so
we will use those turkeys to help people to get
(04:41):
a turkey during Thanksgiving. We will also be cooking many
of those turkeys for our Thanksgiving meals. So we encourage
people to come out. It's fun, it's exciting. We had
turkeys on Gurney's with some of the ambulance systems. It
was great. It was truly a community event that was
helping people out that are just going through rough time.
But it was wonderful just to see something catalyzed bringing
(05:03):
people together rather than dividing. It brought the community together.
Speaker 3 (05:07):
By the way all the information is up that Chris
is talking about and that we're so proud to talk
about again. Go to meltrodter dot org events and the
Turkey drop stuff is up there. Goal was set for
five thousand again this year. Here we go, let's roll
it out.
Speaker 1 (05:19):
Chris Pulaski is the CEO of Meltrotter Ministries. Thank you
so much for your time today.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Thank you
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