Written by the team behind Puzzlify. Puzzlify is our product, so weigh what follows with that in mind. We've tried to make this useful even if you never use it. We're not affiliated with any church, diocese, parochial church council, charity or community organisation.
Lent runs for the forty days before Easter, and many churches mark it with a weekly Lent lunch. The idea is simple: a plain meal of soup and bread in the church hall, usually on a Friday or after a midweek service, and the money people would have spent on a proper lunch goes to a charity. Somebody has to make the soup, buy the bread, put the tables out, wash the bowls and count the donations. Often it's the same handful of people every week for six weeks. This short guide is about thanking them.
Here are a few ideas, with an honest look at whether a photo puzzle is a good fit.
What the Lent lunch team actually does
Every church does it differently, but the job often includes:
- drawing up a rota of soup makers for each week of Lent
- making a big pan of soup at home, or on the hall stove that morning
- labelling anything with common allergens, and keeping a plain option
- buying bread, cheese and fruit, and sometimes a cake for the last week
- putting out tables, bowls, spoons and a jug of water
- standing a collection bowl or card reader by the door
- washing up, wiping down and stacking the chairs afterwards
- counting the money and passing it on to the chosen charity
Why it's worth saying
A Lent lunch is meant to be modest, and so are the people who run it. Nobody expects praise for a pan of leek and potato. Yet for some people, especially those who live alone, that bowl of soup with other people around the table is the best hour of their week. A note that names something specific, such as the lentil soup that ran out by half past twelve, or the warm hall on a cold March Friday, tells the team their care was noticed.
When to say it
Just after Easter is a good moment, once the last bowls are put away and the total has been announced. A word after a service is enough; a card on the hall noticeboard lands just as well.
What makes a good photo
- a big steel pan on the hall stove with the lid half off
- a row of mismatched bowls waiting by the hatch
- a breadboard with a crusty loaf and a wedge of cheese
- long tables with paper cloths and jugs of water
- the collection bowl by the door, coins and notes inside
- the empty hall afterwards, chairs stacked against the wall
Follow your church's photo policy and keep faces out of the frame unless people have agreed. Kitchens, tables and pans make warm, homely pictures and a calm, simple puzzle.
Choosing a piece count
| Pieces | Good for |
|---|---|
| 24 | a quick puzzle on a phone |
| 48 | a few minutes with a cup of tea |
| 80 | someone who likes a gentle challenge |
| 130 | a hall full of tables with plenty of detail |
| 252 | a long Lent evening, best on a tablet |
Steam and stainless steel can look similar all over, so 48 or 80 pieces is usually kinder than 252.
Note examples
- "Thank you for six weeks of soup and kindness."
- "The best lunch of my week, and it helped someone else too. Thank you."
- "Thank you for the warm hall and the extra bread."
- "Every bowl washed, every chair stacked. Thank you."
- "Thank you for keeping a seat for me every Friday."
What it costs, plainly
The preview is free, so you can see how it looks before deciding anything. Publishing the link costs one credit (€3.99), or less per puzzle with a bundle. It's a digital puzzle, not a printed or cardboard one, so there's nothing to post. The person receiving it doesn't need an account or an app; they open the link and your note appears when the last piece goes in. If a card is enough, it is.
Ideas that are not a puzzle
- a card on the hall noticeboard, signed by the regulars
- naming the team and the total raised in the parish newsletter
- offering to make a pan of soup yourself next year
- staying behind to help with the washing up
- giving a new ladle, a big pan or a set of matching bowls
- asking the team what would make it easier, and sorting it
Where Puzzlify fits
Puzzlify turns a personal photo into a private digital jigsaw that you send as a link. It isn't a printed puzzle, and it isn't a public puzzle board: only the people you send it to can open it. It's one option among many, and it works best when the photo means something to the person receiving it. Please don't confuse it with puzzlify.io, Puzzlit, Puzzly or Puzzify, which are different things.
If a photo puzzle feels right as well, choose the pan on the stove, the row of bowls or the long set tables, pick a piece count that suits them, and write the note in your own words. You can make one here.
Written by the small team behind Puzzlify (info@puzzlify.app). Not legal, religious, food safety, allergy, charity law, safeguarding, privacy, photography permission or gift policy advice.