PROSPERITY, Pennsylvania — If you make a fish fry dinner, people will come for miles around. They will even cross several state lines to get to your church basement if the fish sandwich is fresh and spilling out of both sides of the bun, the macaroni and cheese is homemade with just enough crisp on top, and the coleslaw is crunchy and tangy.
It turns out that people will return if, when they leave, they aren’t just pleased with the food they’ve eaten but they’ve also found new friends among the hundreds of strangers that were sitting on the wooden folding chairs along the long, cafeteria-type tables. Especially if the fish fry money goes to a meaningful cause.
That is just what has been happening for the past 19 years here at the Upper Ten Mile Presbyterian Church in the middle of this tiny Washington County village. This event, held every Friday…
