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August 27, 2003
Dear friends:
Out of our Listening Post Ministry, our church started the Feeding Program
on Saturday, August 23rd.
The following persons volunteered within several days of the email announcement
to gather at the church and prepared and distributed 70 sandwiches and
small packs of rice and beans. The volunteers were: Melanie Heineman,
Miranda Heineman, Brent Arnspiger, Mike Johns, Lynn Berry, Melania Rolling,
and the coordinator, Jodey Williams.
They all learned that there were not many feeding programs in the City
on Saturdays, and the meal, which was provided by us, would be the only
meal of the day for the hungry. Some of our “clients” even
said to our volunteers that they had already eaten one meal on that
day, so they refused our offer, and said to give the food to another
hungry person.
Though the team went to several parks and Penn Station, we would like
to establish our work in Jackson Square Park on the corner of 13th Street
and 8th Avenue. We are now under the supervision of Hector Silva, a
certified volunteer of the City Harvest Program and a member of Grace
UMC. We will need to continue to function for three months before we
are officially approved by the City Harvest Program.
The Church Council has officially approved the program. Our staff will
prepare the kitchen in Duane Hall to be usable for this project. We
will have to purchase a freezer and a cabinet, so your special contributions
are needed immediately. City Harvest will provide us with food, but
we do have to purchase drinks and additional food items to supplement
the meal. So again your contribution will be needed for this ongoing
program of this project.
But most of all, the program needs YOU. We need you to volunteer. The
total amount of time you need to spend will be about three to four hours
per week on Saturdays from 2 PM to 5 PM. If we have more participants,
you may need to work only once a month, but Hector tells us that people
often want to volunteer every week because the reward of feeding the
hungry is so great. We would like to have a list of volunteers, so please
respond to me if you
would like to be on this team of volunteer for the Feeding Program.
Jesus said, “ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.
Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this
everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another.” (John 13:34-35)
Peace and Hope,
Taka Ishii
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