Friends, volunteers, and supporters,
The socially-distanced Celebrate Outreach Saturday morning breakfast and Missio Dei Sunday evening dinner continue, serving nutritious portable food in brown paper bags at our door. We serve both meals at Praise the Lord Outreach Ministries, a storefront church at 900C MLK/9th Street South. Breakfast begins at 8:30 AM and dinner begins at 5:30 PM.
Here are some updates and needs:
-The numbers for both meals have increased significantly. The number of people at Saturday breakfast jumped from 55 to around 85. The number at Sunday dinner more than doubled: 34 to about 85. We do not know how much of this increase is from money running out at the end of the month and how much is from the pandemic, but we are planning to increase the number of meals.
-We still need volunteers. GW, our usual chef for these two meals, once observed that coffee is a big part of homeless culture. We have figured out a way to serve a cup of breakfast coffee to everyone on Saturday morning, but we need people to make it happen. If you can volunteer, or you want more information, contact us here or on our facebook page. Plan to arrive by 7:30 AM to help. We supply the gloves, soap and hand sanitizer; you supply the work. Of course, be sure to consider health guidelines as you consider volunteering.
-We can use donations of food. Mary Stewart, the chef who has taken over for GW while he self-quarantines, can use food, especially food that can be frozen. Several Canadian snow birds in her condo complex have given her access to their refrigerators while they are in Canada. If you have sources of food, especially if you can contact restaurants for food donations, contact us here or on our facebook page.
-Thanks to Tom and Marty Snapp for continuing the bread run. The Snapps pick up out-of-date bread and pastries at Publix every Saturday morning. Along with a tub of peanut butter, the huge amount of bread from last week’s pickup was a lifesaver on Sunday night when people kept coming, and coming, and coming…
That’s it for now. Please free to forward, post, and distribute to your friends and networks, early and often. And thanks to everyone who has donated to keep us going.
John Stewart