FAITH
NOURISHING THE
PHOTOS COURTESY OF FOOD FOR OUR JOURNEY
BY LAUREN DOWDLE Not everyone who needs food is able to go to a shelter or food bank, which is where Food For Our Journey comes in to help. The idea for the organization came about two years ago when Kelly Harden Greene and her husband, Joe, became empty nesters. Their family had been involved with different ministries through the years, primarily feeding the homeless, but the couple wanted to do more. “One of the issues we saw with the homeless was if they couldn’t get to the stationary site during the time food was served — because of weather, work, or transportation — they couldn’t get food that day,” she says. “If we could remove that mobility requirement for them when necessary, that would be huge.” That’s how they came up with using a food truck to take meals to the homeless and food insecure around the city. Greene reached out to her friend, Christine Golab, who was teaching at Our Lady of Sorrows at the time. Golab immediately said she wanted to be a part of the mission, and they got the ball — or tires, in this case — rolling. “The concept would be to eliminate food waste by partnering with restaurants that were unable to donate leftovers,” Greene said. The health department doesn’t allow restaurants or caterers to give out leftover food, but they can donate it to a nonprofit organization like Food For Our Journey. “It’s perfectly good, untouched food,” she says. “We were able to use it, plate it, 12 Bham Family October 2020
Soul
Food For Our Journey brings meals to those in need
and give it to the homeless.” At first, they served meals out of Golab’s minivan and Greene’s father’s Ford Expedition. Then in January of this year, they raised enough funds to purchase a van. They originally planned to deliver food twice a week using the van, only targeting people who were unable to reach current food bank locations. However, when COVID hit and stationary locations closed, they soon began hitting the streets six days a week to meet the growing needs. The nonprofit’s mission is to deliver meals to the hungry, putting God’s love into action. However, they also use it as a way to learn about people’s goals and needs, like if they need help getting a driver’s license or signing up for unemployment. “By sharing a meal and nourishing the person, we get to know them,” Greene says. “We can use this as an outreach tool to get them plugged in.” Food For Our Journey hands out about 200 meals for breakfast every morning, a minimum of 200 lunches during the afternoon, and about 2,800 water bottles during the week. They start each day at 9 a.m. picking up breakfast and taking it to Brother Bryan Park at 10 a.m. “We can offer almost a small buffet: breakfast casseroles, fresh fruit, donuts, kolaches, cinnamon rolls, and more,” Greene says. “They can pick and choose what they want.” After breakfast, they pick up the lunches from different restaurants and volunteers and start delivering them along their route. Meals include hot dogs, chips, sandwiches, BBQ, macaroni and CONTINUED ON PAGE 13
