Last fall, members from St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Jonesburg formed a group that discusses topics affecting the Montgomery County community and munches on pizza.

The group is called Patriots and Pizza. It held several meetings since October at the basement of the church, located at 204 Jones Street.

“There used to be town hall meetings,” Gary Ellul said. “It’s how our country was founded. Our idea was kind of to get back to that, get away from little snippets on Facebook and get together and talk about things. If people have a different view on things, let’s hash it out and talk about it. We have to learn from each other.”

Gary and Shirley Ellul, Don and Elaine Meier, Chris and Jessica Fischer and Luella Gregory make up the seven-member group. They held their last meeting on March 8.

Gregory, a fifth-generation Montgomery County resident, came up with the group name.

“It really stemmed from a conversation we had about what’s going on in the world today and our values,” Gregory said. “We want to discuss ways to be involved on the local level, be engaged and be knowledgeable.”

Gregory said one of the topics the group talked about during the meetings was what kind of example the group is leaving the young people.

“We want to be proud of what our ancestors did,” Gregory said. “We have a history. Everybody does. Knowledge is power, but I feel like in today’s world that there are so many streams of communication that control the narrative so that our young people and everybody alike can get the true message to make their own decisions. We feel it’s so important to reestablish some of that communication so our people can understand and be knowledgeable to make their own decisions. If they don’t know what the Constitution is, they don’t know what America stands for.”

Shirley Ellul said she’s happy that she’s part of a group that discusses ways on how the Montgomery County community can be a great place to live, shop and raise families.

“During COVID, everybody was in their little tunnel,” Shirley said. “You couldn’t get out and talk to people or couldn’t communicate. It’s nice to be able to hear other people and learn from other people and then work together.”

The next meeting is scheduled for 6 p.m. on April 5. For more information on Patriots on Pizza, contact Gregory at 573-470-2144 or Chris Fischer at 636-237-3370.