Making a Ministry

"Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God's grace in its various forms" (1 Peter 4:10)

If you’ve ever attended a Living Stones’ Sunday dinner, or even My Monday Thing!, you’ve seen a well organized system that gets food from the oven to dinner plates efficiently and with love. The meals, served buffet style and eaten together at tables, are usually finished and packed up in just under two hours, but behind each dinner is a whole week of tedious scheduling, communication, and preparation. 

Living Stones wouldn’t be where it is today without its dedicated volunteers. Eleven years ago, it would have been hard to believe that our small team of seven would one day grow into a team of 150 volunteers. Yet, here we are. There are plenty of volunteers and work that are visible at Sunday dinners and at My Monday Thing!, but there is so much more to these events that is unseen: meal planning, volunteer scheduling, food pick ups, food drop offs, and inventory/data keeping are some of the many jobs that need to be fulfilled throughout the week to make our dinners successful.

Randy Hino, a retired pilot, is one of our faithful volunteers who is committed to helping us achieve some of those unseen jobs. Once a month, you can find Randy, wearing his trademark conductor hat, picking up food from St. Clair Hospital and transporting it to our commercial freezers, where he weighs and documents the donated food. The following week, he receives a delivery list from our menu planner and volunteer coordinator, Sondra Furedy, instructing him which pans of food to take to North Way Christian Community Church in Dormont. Randy typically loads and transports about 80-100 pans of food into refrigerators to thaw, a process he says takes him well over an hour to complete. From there, our Sunday and Monday volunteers prepare and serve delicious, well-balanced meals to our neighbors.

Randy started volunteering with Living Stones a couple of years ago with a group from Westminster Presbyterian Church, and has now made volunteering an indispensable part of his life. Randy attributes his dedication of volunteering to a devotional he read called Seasons of Life. The devotional divides life into four seasons (youth, early adulthood, late adulthood, and old age), looking toward the hope of heaven as the fifth season which is eternal. “It’s important to live each day like it’s the last,” Randy says, and he wants to spend the “final season” of his life volunteering, serving, and giving back. 

Randy is one of several volunteers who pick up and deliver food each month, much of it from UPMC facilities including Strabane Woods and Trails, Vanadium Woods, and Asbury Heights. In fact, we were recently featured in an article on page 12 of UPMC's Community Connections, where they referenced our partnership with them on food rescue. You can find that article by clicking here.

We are always seeking and welcoming new volunteers at Living Stones! From certified hairstylists to those with administrative skills to food servers to those who pick up and drop off food, we rely on our volunteers to help us serve our neighbors and have a job for nearly everyone. If you are interested in learning more about how you might use your time and talents to help others, please click here to access our volunteer form. 

Annual Fundraiser is fast approaching!

Don’t miss this action-packed adventure past racers are raving about! Laugh and challenge your brain as you solve clues, complete hilarious missions, and snap pictures and videos as you feverishly – and safely – attempt to land in the winners’ circle! Prizes of $500, $250, and $100 await the three vehicles with the most points and will be presented during the post-race party, to which all participants are invited. Click here to sponsor or participate!

Come to the Table

Second Sunday of every month

Brentwood Presbyterian Church

3725 Brownsville Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15227

Third Sunday of every month

North Way Christian Community Church

Corner of Espy Ave. & Potomac Ave.

Dormont, PA 15216

Across from Potomac Avenue T stop



Last Sunday of every month

Fairhaven United Methodist Church

2415 Saw Mill Run Blvd., Pittsburgh, PA 15234

To support the work we do, simply scan a code below or make a check payable to

Living Stones and mail it to

Living Stones, PO Box 13077, Pittsburgh, PA 15243

Thank you!

Living Stones fosters the cultivation of relationships with neighbors who join us for meals. As relationships develop and deepen, Living Stones volunteers come alongside those individuals and families to assist them in navigating the challenges in their lives and encourage them to find hope in Christ as they learn to trust Him.

"Won't you be my neighbor?"

Fred Rogers