It only takes a spark :: :: the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed

I didn't know what to expect at the launch of our first Excelsior Community Food Pantry event. I didn't know if we'd have many folks show up to get food. I didn't know what ethnicities would be most represented -- all I knew was that we didn't have many volunteers who could speak Cantonese or Mandarin. I arrived with Ryan and Hayley around 8:20 am. After opening the back door, I was very happy to see our *beautiful* mobile sign holders with our sleek Excelsior Community Food Pantry signs designed by Debbie. They made our little operation look so official :). Soon our whole small group was assembled and we started setting up. The rest of the volunteers arrived and we ate muffins and pastries. Joe led us in a time of reflection about the kind of environment we wanted to create, and each volunteer contributed a word to describe our endeavor, MBCC-style, and explained why they chose that word. Then we finished setting up and gave volunteers a chance to grab groceries before the folks waiting outside came through. Everyone took their stations and then all of a sudden the first five folks came down the stairs into the fellowship hall, signed in, took a number, and were directed to the coffee/tea/pastry table by Kora, a Chinese-speaking volunteer from our partner church, Ocean Ave Pres. Mary, from the Presbyterian church in Chinatown, assisted folks at the coffee table. We had so many leftover muffins and pastries that we had enough to serve small portions to our clients as well. Before long, a number of folks were seated with coffee/tea and snack and were chatting with each other. There were elderly folks, young kids, and parents as well. Then the folks outside called for the first five folks to go outside to the courtyard and grab food. This worked great at first, though as new folks came down they tried to line up behind those going outsde. Fortunately, after some explanation from Kora, folks sat down again until their numbers were called. Hopefully next time our regulars will know the drill and be able to show others how it's done. The first 40 minutes were very intense, but by the end of that time we had already signed in 80 folks! Fortunately the line outside had been ruly--for the most part Over the next hour folks trickled down the stairs in small groups, and we had to modify how many of each food item we were giving out, for as one volunteer had said, "our cabbage overfloweth". By the time 11:30 rolled around, we had already given away all the food, save some extra oranges and of course cabbages. We put a sign outside in English and Chinese saying that we had run out of food and to come next time, and had to turn some folks away. Pastor Susan showed up and got to see our setup, and Pastor Bruce came by to help clean up. We had a time for debrief and discussed how to recruit additional Chinese-speaking volunteers, how to handle logistics with the Food Bank for next time, and how we might be able to get sustainable funding for the endeavor. The next Sunday I was pleased to hear how excited OAPC was about the food pantry and how it brought some a real excitement about their church that they haven’t felt for awhile. I didn’t expect our food pantry to generate so much excitement or to inspire folks throughout our Presbytery. It’s amazing how God has blessed both our church and OAPC through our partnership, far more than we could have asked or imagined – praise be to God for His work through the Holy Spirit!

--Chris