Burke United Christian Ministries opens doors to the public

It isn’t often that ribbon cuttings draw a crowd, but last week’s grand opening at Burke United Christian Ministries (BUCM) filled the entrance to the brim with excited spectators and proud locals.

Beneath the vibration of excited chatter, volunteers shuffled through the audience, smiling and greeting people before the ceremony began.

BUCM found its roots in 1975, two years after the Marion District of the United Methodist Church established Burke Outreach Ministry, according to their website. In 1985, First United Methodist Church extended the program, developing a soup kitchen in its basement to provide hot meals on a daily basis.

BUCM amalgamated its services into one central location at Burke Mission Station in 2001, developing the BUCM that families in need know and cherish today.

“We are here today, all these years later — 2025 — at the ribbon cutting for our new home,” President of the Board Patricia Irwin said. “It’s been a journey made possible by Burke County’s faith community and its citizens coming together to help our neighbors in need. With a lot of work, determination, compassion, commitment, and prayers, the BUCM has served county residents for 50 years and will continue to do so in our new home.”

BUCM Executive Director Alice Horton shared the ribbon-cutting responsibility with Morganton Mayor Ronnie Thompson, grasping one side of the comically large scissors as the crowd roared with applause.

In Horton’s usual fashion, things were back to business immediately. She directed all volunteers with stations to move to their locations and invited the audience to tour the facility. The crowd flooded the building, oohing and aahing at the various rooms and their possibilities.

Upon entry, one of the first areas visitors find is the chapel room, fitted with two pews, a crucifix, and a couple guitars. The chapel room isn’t fully furnished, but is well on its way, thanks to the 15-20 churches that subscribed to support the ministry.

“Their plan is to start their day with a devotion for the staff,” volunteer Kevin Frederick said. “Then, they’ll open the doors and people can come in here at any time. We hope to have ministers that volunteer to come in here to lead services occasionally — but that’s all in the future at this point.”

Down the hall, the kitchen bustled as a hotspot on the self-guided tour. Chef Pam Gattone buzzed around tables and ovens, talking to anyone who could slow her down for questions.

“I’ve been cooking for four days,” Gattone said moments after asking a local pastor to bless her food-packed office. “I’ve been getting it in there — we’ve been doing soup. I’m excited. I can’t wait until tomorrow. Tomorrow is our first full hot meal.”

According to Gattone, everything she makes is from scratch and the menu for BUCM’s first official week of operation includes baked ziti, meatballs, potato vegetable soup, garlic bread, chicken — the works.

“I would really love to have more regular, off-the-street people, because then you get more [donations],” the chef said. “You better come for lunch!”

From the kitchen, visitors moved through the warehouse into the pantry space, which is a new addition for volunteers coming from the previous location. Volunteer Roy Lee has worked with BUCM for months and he’s grateful for the added space.

“When we moved from [the former ministry] — we didn’t have a pantry, so we had to work out of the warehouse,” he said. “It’s exciting. We’re ready.”

Pantry volunteers will be delivering boxes to cars like they did at the old location, preparing food for families from sorted and stacked shelves Monday through Friday — a stark change from their recent Monday and Friday schedule.

The final room, where the refreshments were stored and the quickest walkers were gathered, is a flex space, developed by BUCM Property and Facilities Director AJ Crawley, who acted as the go-between for contractors and the ministry. Though it is fashioned to operate as a community room, it can function as an emergency and natural disaster shelter as well.

“If we have something like another Helene happen, it has its own entrance [and] independent heating and air system from the rest of the building,” Crawley said. “It’s kind of prepared for a little bit of everything. That’s why we call it the flex space.”

Among the growing crowd and shrinking refreshments table, the mayor emerged, rushing to his next meeting. Despite his tight schedule, he stopped to praise BUCM’s work.

“It really is amazing,” Thompson said. “They’ve done a fantastic job. Burke County’s such a giving community. They open up their pocketbooks and take care of people that need taken care of.”