WHEELING –The smell of breaded fish in fryers filled the halls of churches, fire departments and clubs in the area as local fish frys kicked off on Wednesday.

The Christian tradition of abstaining from eating meat on Fridays in favor of fish during the Lenten season has resulted in booming business for Coleman’s Fish Market. Owner Joe Coleman estimates they provide more than 10,000 pounds of fish to more than 40 organizations over the six weeks of Lent beginning Ash Wednesday and ending three days before Easter on Holy Thursday.

Since the first batch of fish came in last weekend, Coleman’s staff have been cutting away in the kitchen. Coleman equated the store’s operations during the Lenten season to that of a football game.

“Players have to work together to win during a football game, and our staff has to work together,” described Coleman. “If we don’t come together, then things don’t work. We have a good crew. They watch each other’s backs and try to cover for each other.”

The biggest problem for Coleman this Lenten season is staffing. Typically, the restaurant requires a crew of 20 in the kitchen, but Coleman said there has yet to be a whole crew in the kitchen this Lenten season.

“The biggest challenge we have this year is the same as most other businesses are dealing with,” Coleman noted. “Whether it’s food or any other type of business, it just seems like there’s not enough people to fill job openings.”

The staff available to Coleman have been working hard in the kitchen from 6 a.m. to 6 or 7 p.m. since Christmas. After six weeks filled with cutting and frying fish, Coleman and his staff have their sights set on vacations and cruises.

“We’re doing the best we can do,” added Coleman. “After Lent, it’s slow time until the tourist season starts, so we get a little bit of a break for the next six weeks.”

The local organizations that Coleman’s hands their fish off to also have to ensure they have plenty of staff during the busy season. Volunteers at local churches follow similar schedules to that of Coleman’s staff- waking up early to begin breading fish and heading home after all of it has been fried.

St. Jude Church in Glendale receives one of the largest chunks of Coleman’s fish supply, with Organizer Barb Klos estimating they go through between 300 to 400 pounds of fish a week. She pointed to the church’s location behind WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital drawing in large crowds of nurses, doctors and construction workers.

“Those construction workers love the fish,” noted Klos. “We draw in many outsiders since we’re pretty known in the area for our fish. We also get a lot of customers who come because they enjoy the large hall we have where people can just sit around and chit-chat.”

Other local church fish frys also serve as community gathering spots.

One of St. Vincent’s Honor Society President Mary Kay Bell’s favorite parts of volunteering for Our Lady of Seven Dolors fish fry is the opportunity to see church members who attend different mass times than her.

“We welcome everybody, and we try to set our prices so that anybody can afford it,” noted Bell. “We try to make everything affordable so everybody can share and eat well.”

Even though their fish fry moved to delivery-only since the COVID-19 pandemic, St. Michael Parish School Fish Fry Co-Chairman Stephan Przybysz still feels the same community spirit at the event he experienced attending as a preschooler.

“I remember being there and just enjoying the fish frys on Friday, running around with my friends and maybe getting yelled at for being in the hallway,” reminisced Przybysz. “I realize now with some perspective that was all possible because the parents of my generation were volunteering to do the hours and hours of unseen labor and work to make that happen.”

To now put that same work in for his four kids attending St. Michael Parish School is “rewarding” for Przybysz.

“It really is a fun opportunity to get the parish and the school communities together to support a common interest, which is looking out for our kids,” he added.

Just as the St. Michael Parish School Fish Fry’s proceeds will go towards bettering the school, other local churches put their funds from the frys towards maintenance projects for their buildings.

“All the money we raise goes to whatever the church may need,” said Bell. “In the past, it’s paid for air conditioning and a new organ, so all this money is raised to help the church.”