Friends Serving Others to hold Lenten fish fries in Dover

Friends Serving Others will hold its annual Lenten fish fries from 5-7 p.m. Feb. 20 and 27 and March 6, 13, 20 and 27 at Dover Memorial Hall, 410 N. Wooster Ave., Dover.

Meals are $12 for a two-piece fish dinner and $5 for children 10 and younger. Additional pieces of fish may be purchased for $2 each. Carryout will be available.

Friends Serving Others held its first fish fry in 2012 during Lent to raise funds for a mission trip to Ukraine. The group raised enough to send 12 members to serve for nearly two weeks, including work in a girls orphanage in the Crimea region and alongside other missionaries.

The group returned in 2013, again serving in the orphanage and in a nearby village, where members removed a dirt roof from a root cellar and dug a ditch for a water line.

In 2014, after Russia took over the Crimea region and the girls orphanage closed, the group did not return. Supporters asked if the fish fries would continue, and the group decided to keep the tradition, adopting the name Friends Serving Others. The fish fries have been held each year since, except in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Proceeds support a variety of projects, including youth and adult mission trips, local family assistance, Hammer & Nails, Dress-a-Child, Share-a-Christmas, Sole Purpose, Jehovah Jireh Orphanage, Abule Care Foundation in Uganda and the Tuff Bags food project, as well as other needs as they arise.