Happy Friday!
This week the Board of Directors for Pig Out Food Truck (compiled of members from Faith, St. Paul, Triplett, and West) met and decided due to COVID numbers continuing to increase, our hospitals being at capacity, and for the safety of our volunteers and guests, we would suspend Pig Out's service indefinitely. We will serve this weekend, compliments of Taste of Buffalo Pizza (they are providing the food for free!) and then the Board will revisit this once the vaccinations have been distributed, numbers decrease, etc.
Since this decision was made and as it has become known to others I've been approached by multiple people asking, "What is going to be done to care for the hungry? We understand the pandemic, but are we just going to stop caring for the people?"
For nights I've wrestled with this decision, praying for clarity, perseverance, and an ability to find a solution.
So, I pose the question to you . . . West Church . . .
Can we, will we, work together to find a solution?
We cannot utilize the Food Truck because it is not ours. We are just a few votes on a BOD for a non-profit called Common Ground.
But we do have resources available to us, we have a group of people that call West Church their "church home," and we have a passion for being Jesus to our community. I've never known us to "not find a way." Therefore, the ask.
I'm willing to devote time, energy, resources, etc. to continuing to be a presence in the downtown community providing food in a safe manner. Most likely this would mean using food prepared by commercial organizations. (Like Taste of Buffalo is very willing to provide food at cost so that we can continue to have a presence and feed the people).
But . . this task is bigger than one or two people. It would take:
- small teams of folks showing up on Sunday for an hour or two and distributing the food
- financial contributions (tithes and offerings) above what we have right now because this is not in our current budget
If you would be willing to be a part of this missional outreach, please reply to this email, let me know, and I'll be in touch by Tuesday of next week.
I look forward to seeing you Sunday digitally as we explore the strengths and weaknesses of our temperaments.
Grace & Peace,
Andrea
