Collaboration Done Well
Tuesday, November 26, 2024
by Michael Mercurio
It all began with an inquiry from one of our partners, the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, wondering if we could work together to distribute Thanksgiving baskets to the community. It seemed like a great idea for our November Indoor Pantry which was scheduled for the Tuesday night before Thanksgiving. So, we set in motion another community outreach party where, in addition to pantry items that people could take home, we would offer a hot meal and some raffle drawings for prizes.
The meal would need to feed more than 200 people and the leaders of Shalom church graciously agreed to provide the food. We encountered a small problem though when the plans for the meat to go along with the rice and beans fell through the cracks. But God was faithful and, at the last minute, we were able to purchased thousands of small frozen meatballs, which turned out to be just what we needed.
The Shalom Church was a great help and in additon to the volunteers from First Alliance, we had support from the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity and the Sigma Beta Club (young men that the older men mentor). These boys took on the task of preparing the food baskets and helping to hand them out to the lucky winners of the raffles. Altogether we had more than 30 volunteers and through a beautiful example of collaboration, we served 211 families, the highest number of families that we have ever served on a "Pantry" night.
The event was about as successful as it could be, from the ease of checking in our guests, to the very last prize given away. Everyone had a great time. Pastor Allen turned on his "Game Show" voice to announce the winners of the raffle and he also led a moving time of Thanksgiving, where the people shared personal words of thanks to God.
We too were thankful - thankful that we were able to share God's love and just enjoy being with our community neighbors. To get in on the fun, come and join us at any of our Saturday Morning Drive-thru events or at one of the Tuesday Night Indoor Pantries.