Feeding the Hungry
Faith Lutheran Church
Since the upsurge in the Coronavirus cases in March 2020, each Thursday Faith Lutheran Church in New Providence has contributed an average of about 700 sandwiches to the soup kitchen of St. John’s Roman Catholic Church in Newark. The sandwiches are made at home by members and friends of Faith, who then take them to the church, where they are counted and boxed for delivery. Donations regularly include snacks, fruit, baked goods, water, and clothing. The staff at Faith help organize and manage the donations each week.
St. John’s Soup Kitchen has been providing food for over forty years in the Newark area. For thirty-seven years, on the second Saturday of the month, a group from Faith has donated, prepared, and served a comprehensive hot meal at St. John’s. Faith has delivered approximately 65,000 Sandwiches to St. John’s Soup Kitchen to date.
Due to the health dangers of the Coronavirus pandemic, individually served, cooked meals were halted in March 2020. From its experience, Faith knew that men, women, and children, who had fallen on hard times, would continue to come with hunger to St. John’s for support.
Days after the state issued stay at home orders in March 2020, Pastor Jane McCready reached out to Pete Dobbs, Director of the Soup Kitchen, to discuss how Faith could continue to help. That week, Pastor McCready dropped off 681 sandwiches at St. John’s.
Due to the economic problems caused by the current health crisis, the number of guests at St. John’s has increased greatly. Kitchens and pantries in the area have been forced to close because of the risk the Coronavirus presents. Determined to continue its mission, St. John’s has remained open and done everything possible to streamline its service and reduce the risk for its guests. Everyday people tell the administrators at St. John’s how grateful they are and they do not know what they would do if the kitchen no longer provided them food.
If you wish to learn more about making sandwiches for St. John’s, please call Faith’s office at 908-464-5177, or email the office at family.faith@verizon.net. Faith is located at 524 South Street, New Providence, NJ 07974. For more information, visit famfaith.org.
