It has been 10 years since God called us to start this ministry. That statement is both humbling and amazing! Because of the Lord’s great faithfulness, volunteers have been able to minister to people in need in many ways in 2019.
On most Monday nights for almost six years, we have served dinner to the men at Changed Lives Christian Center. Each Thursday, we feed our friends at Brother Bryan Mission, as we have for close to five years. The men enjoy the meals, and we enjoy getting to know them. At both ministries, we have become reacquainted with park friends who are making positive changes. It is a blessing to see a new chapter in these men’s lives! On some Thursdays, we prepare dinner for a men’s Bible study in South East Lake.
On the last Monday of the month, we serve dinner at Interfaith Hospitality House, a homeless shelter for families, focusing on those with teenage boys. Here, we are able to sit and eat with the families after serving them their meal. We also provide dinner to a YWCA support group for women leaving domestic abuse situations on some Thursdays. On the first Tuesday of each month, we deliver dinner to a Celebrate Recovery group at Dawson Memorial Baptist Church.
Each Wednesday we provide lunch to YouthBuild participants at Greater Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church in West End. The students receive GED instruction and construction skills job training, with the goal of helping them find jobs. The hot lunches we provide mean so much to the students, some of whom experience food insecurity.
Once again we served 52 breakfasts in Linn Park. Every Thursday morning, truth is shared in our devotion time, in conversations, and through the handwritten scripture cards in the lunch bags.
During the school year, we provide lunch to students at Banks Academy, a Christian high school in East Lake, on two Fridays a month. This summer we fed the Shelby County Foster Parents Association at two of their monthly meetings. In September, we began making lunch monthly for LegacyWorks, an enrichment program for urban youth. Hope Inspired Ministries offers job-skills classes to those who are unemployed, and we have been able to provide lunch for some of their class days.
In October, a group of volunteers from a local accounting firm, in conjunction with the Christian Service Mission, prepared 36 frozen meals for us to give away to those who are sick, hurting, and grieving. (If you know of a need for one of these meals, please let us know.) Our relationship with aTeam Ministries, which serves families affected by pediatric cancer, continues as we regularly provide snack baskets with homemade treats for the staff to take on hospital visits.
As we look ahead to 2020, we are excited to announce that our commercial kitchen will be moving. The Christian Service Mission in Avondale is building a kitchen at their warehouse on Third Avenue South and has invited us to partner with them in using this beautiful new space. Once the space is complete, we plan to host an open house so our supporters can see this next step for Grace’s Kitchen.
It is overwhelming to look at the list of where we have served in 2019 and see how many doors God has opened for Grace’s Kitchen to share the gospel of Jesus Christ by feeding people. In total, more than 13,500 plates of homemade food have been served. None of this would be possible without our faithful kitchen and serving volunteers.
Our desire is to serve for the sole purpose of furthering the gospel of Jesus Christ. Thank you for your continued support of Grace’s Kitchen. To God alone be the glory!