How to Start A Food Ministry
This is a great article by Sarah Sandori giving advice on starting a food ministry locally. Though the rewards are great, there is alot of work and organizing to do. She briefly goes into the different kinds of food assistance programs that you can start, but focuses mainly on the food bank model.
Sarah has given alot of good advice to those weeking to start a program at their local church, and goes into the expectations and possible pitfalls of doing so. She talks about a food ministry that she is involved with and gives information on how you can get in touch with them if you would like to get involved.——————————————————————————————
How to Start A Food Ministry
One of the most rewarding activities that any church or other group can undertake is a food ministry. As someone who has helped start food ministries before, I must warn you that it is also a tremendous amount of work. Don’t jump into it on a whim or without doing sufficient planning.
A food ministry can take one of several forms. A soup kitchen is the most familiar to many people. Increasingly, though, food ministries are being built around the idea of providing groceries to individuals and families in the community.
Whatever type of food ministry you decide to start, it is crucial that you have the full backing and encouragement of your church or group’s governing board. A significant number of members of the group must be honestly committed to putting in the time and energy to keep it going on a long-term basis.
A relatively new concept is that of outsourcing food ministry organizing to an outside group that is experienced with sourcing groceries, obtaining them at good prices, and helping to set up a distribution system. This does not take away from local church members the responsibility for making the activity a success. What it does do is relieve you from having to reinvent the wheel.
My favorite group along this line is Angel Food Ministries, based in Monroe, Georgia, and dedicated to providing grocery relief to communities throughout the United States.
Non-profit and non-denominational, Angel Food Ministries was started in February, 1994, feeding 34 families that first month. Since then it has expanded to more than 30 states, feeding well over 100,000 families in a typical month.
Angel Food Ministries works through local churches and other community organizations, which are designated as “host sites.” Host sites purchase units, or boxes, of groceries through the organization for distribution to needing households. The food is restaurant-grade meats, frozen vegetables, dairy products, etc. It is all first-quality, name-brand food–never “seconds” or “day old” type goods.
There’s information on how to become an Angel Food Ministries host site at http://www.angelfoodministries.com, along with complete details of how the program works.
Whether you start your own food ministry from scratch, or affiliate with an organization such as Angel Food Ministries, I know that you will feel richly blessed. Get everyone on board, do your planning, and–assuming the commitment is there–you will succeed.
Sarah Sandori is the food and entertaining columnist for the Solid Gold Info Writers Consortium. Have you ever wanted to be able to exactly duplicate a favorite dish from a favorite restaurant? Check out Sarah’s article where she reveals her secret source for the most mouth-watering restaurant recipes in America: http://www.solid-gold.info/most-wanted-recipes.html
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