What's Going On? Tuesday Food Program
What’s Going On - Tuesday Food Program
As October wanes, we will wind down the Tuesday Food Program. Since April, we have been serving over a hundred people each week on Church Street in St Catharines.
This has been a group effort. The Deacons sponsored it, your benevolence gifts funded it, a small team has managed it, and three different teams took on shopping, meal prep, and delivery/serving. Thanks to everyone who has played a role!
I can speak most to the experience of bringing the food to Church Street. We started with five people and over the summer about 30 different people helped out. Sometimes we had as many as 10 people on site at one time. We also managed to do it with four on one occasion. Most helpers enjoyed it enough to want to keep coming back whenever their schedule allowed.
Shopping was mostly done by a couple people with an eye for good deals on bulk items and with the aim of having nutritious meals. Meal preparation included cooking meals like pulled pork, chili or chicken with rice and/or putting fruit, salad, or snacks in individual portions.
On Tuesdays at 5 pm, the delivery group would gather and load bins of snacks, crockpots of food, boxes of bananas, bags of buns, cases of juice and water, along with some tables and drive to 203 Church St. which is the home of Start Me Up Niagara.
Upon arrival there would be a quick set up which usually included a handwashing station and BBQs when the meal was hotdogs or hamburgers. Each person would take a role, whether putting food on buns or snacks and drinks in bags. After a few weeks it was a pretty slick operation. Sometimes so slick that I would encourage less efficiency. You see, my role, many times, was to stand with the line up of hungry friends and make conversation and connections.
My learning on poverty has led me to the conviction that though we call this a “food program”, we are not in the food business. We are a church and so our business is always people. And our business with people is helping them sense that the kingdom of God is near. Food helps. A warm smile and a kind connection helps more. We often wore nametags and sometimes I had a clipboard and an interview question like, “What is the best meal we have served” and “Are you staying in a tent, shelter or apartment?” They were always allowed to not answer. The latest question was, “Would you let me take your picture as part of a thank you to those who support us?” You can see here some of those who said yes.
The reason I wanted pictures was to help you experience with us that this is about people. We have heard some of their stories. They have been on a journey. Life has taken a tough turn. When you are with them you realize anew that they are people like you. Helping people in a manner that blesses them requires that we check our attitudes and work hard to be there in a way that doesn’t make anyone feel looked down upon. We received numerous unsolicited comments over the summer. One of my favourites was “You are kind and you don’t judge us.” They also loved the quality and variety of our food.
So as this season ends, I will be in a meeting with other players to find out where this might go from here. We assume that we will do this again, but there are always opportunities to improve. I also hope that we can be part of the deeper conversation where we look at root causes and longer-term solutions. Stay tuned.
Pastor Erick
