Could it be that WE are called for such a time as this?
One of Bishop Loya’s recent letters to the diocese begins with Jesus’ words to his disciples:
“ ….for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me….” (Matthew 25:35)
In another letter the Bishop asks us to consider how we might engage in
“….the holy work of loving, healing, standing with the poor, forgotten and pushed aside, and bearing witness with every breath, every decision, and every encounter, to God’s perfect kingdom of peace, love, justice, and joy….”
St. John’s has a number of ways we might ‘engage’ if you are able to give a few hours on a Sunday afternoon, or on a Saturday or Wednesday morning, and we are always happy to welcome new volunteers.
First, St. John’s has supported All Saints Episcopal Indian Mission and its outreach ministries for many years. We helped fund kitchen improvements that enabled First Nations Kitchen (FNK) to begin serving nutritious hot meals to local hungry guests fifteen years ago, and with our support, a more recent upgrade ensures that the facility meets post-Covid health codes. During and immediately following the pandemic, St. John’s also funded Circle of the Beloved Interns who functioned as directors of FNK.
While it is true that we have an ongoing financial commitment to FNK through our Fourth Sunday giving, our most significant and appreciated commitment is to provide two shifts of volunteers on the second Sunday afternoon of every month.
During the Prep shift, from 12:30 to 3 on Sunday afternoon, volunteers pack hot meals, prepared earlier in the day by a team of cooks, into thermal containers, and they bag produce from local co-ops, grocers, and farm markets. They also prepare other materials for the later, GiveAway shift, and they clean up after the cooks and themselves. Depending on the season, this team packages 120 meat meals, 50 vegan meals, and 50 to 90 bags of produce to be distributed to guests, many of whom are immigrants living in the neighborhood.
At GiveAway, from 3:30 to 5:50, also on Sunday afternoon, another team of volunteers distributes the meals and bags of produce, as well as hot and cold beverages, to guests who begin lining up long before distribution happens, and who are deeply grateful for this ministry. On any given Sunday FNK provides food for between fifty and eighty households. If you are interested in volunteering or learning more about this ministry, please reach out to JoAnn Blatchley or Caron Stebinger, either online or in person after church.
A second way to engage in the ‘holy work’ mentioned by Bishop Loya would be to join the teams of volunteers who are supporting the food and clothing ministry at St. Nicholas Episcopal church in Richfield known as Casa Maria. As is true for FNK, St. John’s has been supporting the ministry that began as a ‘Food Shelf’ during the pandemic since its inception, and continues to do so through our Fourth Sunday giving. But we also have two teams of volunteers who regularly contribute their time to sustain this important and growing ministry.
If you have a couple of hours on a Wednesday morning, you might like to join Linda McKee in the Clothing Room at St. Nicholas. There, a team sorts new and gently used clothing for guests to pick up as needed during the hours of food distribution on Saturday afternoon.
In addition, St. John’s has committed to a roughly 2 hour shift on the first and third Saturday of each month during which a group of four to six folks meet at VEAP, a food distribution warehouse in Bloomington, to box and pack literally a ton of food into a cargo van for delivery to Casa Maria at St. Nicholas, a ten minute drive. Once there, we unload the van into the space where the food share is set up and repack the van with the empty boxes from the previous week. Some volunteers return to unload boxes at VEAP, others remain at Casa Maria to help arrange the food for the afternoon distribution, and some leave to complete their Saturday morning errands. ALL leave knowing that they are a part of a Beloved Community that is sustaining fifty to eighty households, many of which include immigrants .
To volunteer, or to learn more about this ministry, contact: Linda McKee (Wednesday Clothing ministry), Caron Stebinger (Saturday VEAP team), or Rex McKee (general info about Casa Maria).
