Mike Wolanin | The Republic Columbus East senior Ashlynn Waddle poses for a photo behind warmers full of grilled cheese sandwiches on Grilled Cheese Thursday at St. Peter’s Lutheran School in Columbus, Ind., Thursday, Feb. 2, 2023. Every Thursday, high school students in Bartholomew County can stop by St. Peters for free grilled cheese sandwiches. Columbus East senior Ashlynn Waddle is putting together a fundraiser for the program by organizing a concert by Christian musician Colton Dixon.
Music, faith and grilled cheese.
Columbus East High School senior Ashlynn Waddle says these are her favorite things in life — and they all tie into her senior project.
Waddle has organized a youth outreach concert that will be held at East at 7 p.m. on Feb. 18 and feature Christian musician Colton Dixon, who previously competed on “American Idol.” Tickets, which were $10 for adults, have sold out, and registration for youth 20 years and younger, who can attend the event for free, is now full.
According to Waddle, any profits from the event that are above costs will go to benefit “Grilled Cheese Thursday,” an outreach program hosted by the youth ministry at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church.
The program invites Bartholomew County high school students to come to St. Peter’s on Thursdays during the school year for a free lunch — featuring grilled cheese sandwiches, of course. Students can arrive at 11:35 a.m. or 1:05 p.m. each week.
“The youth come during their lunch mods to get a free lunch, hang out, just to have a safe environment to gather together,” said Lisa Witte, youth ministry administrative assistant at St. Peter’s and facilitator of Grilled Cheese Thursdays.
“They come, eat, usually have music playing,” said youth ministry director Mike Jessop. “We have ping-pong tables and foosball, and some kids play that, but really, it’s just a chance for them to get a free meal and socialize with their friends.”
In a promotional video about the concert and her project, Waddle described Grilled Cheese Thursday as a place where all students can come for “fun, fellowship and free food.”
“For students, money can sometimes be an issue, especially if they play sports and they can’t have a job, or they have a job and they have bills to pay,” she said. “It’s a great place that they can go and just get free lunch … It’s always there. And then it just provides a great community for the students. It’s always a place that you can go, and it’s no judgement, no strings attached. You can just go and eat grilled cheese with your friends.”
For Waddle, who loves concerts and music, her senior project isn’t just about supporting the outreach program; it also gives students an opportunity to attend an event they might not otherwise get to see.
It’s been a time-consuming effort, with Waddle putting in more than 100 hours. This has included communicating with a talent agency to find a musician who could perform at the event, seeking local sponsors, filling the requirements of Dixon’s appearance in Columbus and organizing the event.
She said that the best part of the project has been all the community support she’s received, even from people with different beliefs.
“I really just hope that it’s a night of people coming together to just worship one God,” said Waddle, “and everyone is happy, and it’s just an awesome event. And it can introduce faith to some people, it can strengthen some people’s faith. And it can just be one thing where everyone is having fun in the same place.”
Jessop said that Waddle’s project mirrors the philosophy of Grilled Cheese Thursdays “on a much larger scale.”
“Grilled Cheese, for a while, one of the hurdles, people thought you had to have gone to St. Peter’s School or attend St. Peter’s,” he said. “And it’s like, no, no, no, you can go to a different church. You don’t have to believe in God at all. Just come and get a free sandwich and a safe place to eat with friends. And now this concert is ‘whoever you are, just come.’”
Witte said she believes the Grilled Cheese Thursdays program originated in 2015. At first, only 15 to 20 students came, but this grew over time, with Jessop stating that their peak was 200 students prior to the pandemic.
Once COVID-19 hit, the program had to be put on hold. And once it returned, volunteer numbers were low, which led to the program going monthly during the 2021-22 school year.
“This year, one of our prayers was, ‘We need volunteer teams, and we need people to get behind it if we’re going to go back to every week,’” said Jessop. “And now we have over 40 volunteers that come to help and rotate through, and so we’re able to do it every week. And this year we’ve seen 240 to 250 every single week.”
When asked about the impact of inflation, Witte said, “Cost has definitely risen. But in our line of work, it being a ministry and an outreach, it’s just a leap of faith.”
She said that God has provided for the program both in terms of funding and volunteers.
Witte and Jessop, who have both known Waddle since her middle school years, were excited about her project.
At first, Jessop though she was just bringing in Dixon to do a youth outreach event, but then she told him she also wanted to use the concert to raise funds for Grilled Cheese Thursdays.
“There’s a level of investment from our church, from our volunteers, but then from the students who attend, that they want to keep this thing going, to where Ashlynn chose that because she loves it, not because we asked her to make it a fundraiser,” he said. “So it’s just cool to see people catch on to this idea, and their ownership is really what’s allowed it to keep flourishing.”
He also commended Waddle on the hard work and organization that have gone into this endeavor.
“Ashlynn has a passion for people in general and she loves Jesus,” said Witte. “And that’s what she’s all about. She’s all about taking her love for Jesus, passion for people and her passion for music and connecting them all together, and that’s exactly what her senior project is.”
