FREE CHAPEL
Free Chapel | Orange County Campus
Free Chapel Orange County Campus in Irvine is a contemporary Christian church that’s passionate about reaching souls for Jesus Christ, and everything they do is about Him.
Free Chapel was founded in Gainesville, Georgia more than forty years ago. It’s now a multi-site campus and its Irvine campus is the only location in California. Their focus is on being a dynamic church that reaches out with the love of Christ to those lost and hurting in our community. They are multi-generational, all ethnicities and offer ministries for youth, young adults, groups, marriage, women, men and much more.
Prior to the pandemic, Free Chapel thrived with convention events and ministries that would reach a broad community. “We made an impact throughout Orange County by partnering with the American Red Cross and offered monthly blood drives and even sent members down to orphanages in Tijuana,” said Kelly Aleman, Small Groups Pastor at Free Chapel Orange County.
“When COVID hit, we had to shift our outreach efforts into high gear. With ‘boots on the ground’ we partnered even more with the local community,” said Kelly. “When food, cleaning supplies, basic needs were getting harder and harder to find, we started collecting essential packages for the community and offered a daily list of what we could provide.”
They partnered with local restaurants for food deliveries and offered daily supplies that could be picked up for those in need.
The shift continued into bi-monthly food drives in front of the church. They offered mixed bags of groceries, and organized diaper drives and baby care needs. With the USDA Farmers to Families Food Box Program they were able to distribute weekly food boxes and even went door to door to low income families in Santa Ana up until Christmas in 2020.
“At the start of the New Year, we connected with Bracken’s Kitchen and they’ve offered prepared meals for our food drive,” said Kelly.
“Now that the businesses have reopened, we are slowing down our efforts with the
food drive and getting ready to organize fun activities for kids. We plan on having a family day on August 7 and will provide a resource for families who need back to school supplies, backpacks and even another diaper drive.”
There is still a definite need in the community so Free Chapel will offer more resources for families and children.
We are honored to be able to provide meals to those they serve who have been impacted by the pandemic and continue to struggle to provide healthy meals for their families.