That's a Lotta Food!

As the New Year begins, we like to take stock of how we are doing at the Rescue Mission. According to the latest figures, on an average day, we serve 245 meals at the Resident Center on MLK Blvd. That means we must prepare and serve an average of 1,715 meals each week, 52 weeks a year. That’s a lotta food!

To put this in perspective, if you are part of a family of 5 and if 3 meals are prepared daily in your home, you will prepare 15 meals each day, 105 each week (of course, with our busy lives, it is rare that a family will have 3 full meals daily). However, unlike the Mission, you will normally serve to the same 5 people each day, with the exception of the occasional friend or relative stopping by for dinner. At the Mission, we serve our in-house guests and then we open the doors to the public. We never know for sure how many guests we will have for each meal.

The meal program at the Mission is an important part of the ministry. We are motivated by the love of Christ and desire to display him in our service. The Bible teaches us: “If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, ‘Go in peace. Be warmed and filled,’ without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that” (James 2:15-16)? “But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him” (1 Jn. 3:17)?