Page 86 - MLD Book

clients (who remain outside) at the open door of Parker. Only Tim Duncan, Joseph Reese, and Mark Baridon remain outside as gatekeepers, warmly clad and still freezing. They make sure every client has a mask before coming to the door. People make masks and donate them to us all the time. Our volunteers inside (partly anyway) Parker include Cindy and John Allen, Joan Wempe and Larry Davis, Leroy Malone (since retired as sexton but still a part of this ministry by choice), Randy Peters, Glenda Blair, Jim Barnes, and me every time, having fallen into overseeing the whole operation by default, I guess. Amy, Alex, Billy, and Hannah served during the summer. Our hours would be M T Th, and thankfully we were allowed to dispense with the once a month only, plus proof of residence rule that has plagued us for years. Now, if a person needs food, he or she gets it. And the clients really have not abused that relaxation of the rule.
One of the saddest temporary casualties of our ministry has been the suspension of the Calvary WELL. We cannot go out to the site with people congregating in groups with no safe distancing. And you can’t drink lemonade or hot chocolate through a mask, and we dare not have them take the masks off, even temporarily. This eliminates for now our Thursday safari to the underpass site, and puts on hold the joy of sandwich making and popcorn popping that was such a fun part of our Thursday routine. We vow to be back, but that will havetowaituntilthevaccine,nodoubt. ASIwritethis,thereisfinallyhopeforthat.
The best part of all this awful scene is the new awareness of our ministry, both from the people who receive it, and for those who give it. Videos and websites have helped spread the word – a turkey video to date I did has gotten over 2600 views and counting. We have received food donations from many churches (Episcopal and otherwise) and agencies we never even heard of before. I mention St. Paul’s Episcopal as a shining example of what ministry can do. They instituted in the summer a “service in the shade” in which they stayed outside instead of having a service inside 9-12, and food donations were the offerings. That has proved to be so successful that it is now ongoing. They bring items averaging 700 every week! St Matthews Area Ministries also donates lots every Wednesday. I seem to be in charge of both receiving and buying food, and I am so grateful that the donations from all these organizations have allowed me to refrain from buying except occasionally for peanut butter, cereal, or canned chicken. Whenever we are out of something, the next thing we know, the doorbell rings, and there is that very item from an enthusiastic donor! This has happened so often that it is clear that we are called to do this! At this writing, (December 9) the parish Hall is filled with enough sweets and bread to start a bakery, the peanut butter pyramid is so high it might crash any minute, and the soup table is overflowing. With a new
average of over 40 bags of food given every session, all that will be gone in a flash. We’ve taken over Parker Hall completely too, as it takes space for all this activity and storage. In the event we have to cross the bridge of return to normalcy and need those spaces, I know that will be a challenge that somehow we will be glad to meet. Hunger will not stop around our neighborhood unless we do it.
One of the worst parts, of course, has to do with friends and family and the fact that I can’t hug anybody. Being a hugger by longtime choice, somehow elbows don’t quite fit the bill. I have learned to operate Zoom and FaceTime and am most