Affirmation

What an incredible few weeks for the Five & Two Food Truck Ministry!  We officially dedicated the truck after worship on June 7, and we had a fantastic time together in fellowship.  Fort Worth, TX Magazine was there and wrote a great article on our ministry:

An Unusual Entrant

During the last day of the Annual Conference of the Central Texas Conference of the UMC, the Five & Two Food Truck Ministry was highlighted as a special and unique ministry during the Mission Support presentation with a wonderful video:

 

Five & Two Video

We followed up with the Mayfest Wrap Party and are gearing up for our first meal at the Patriot House at the Presbyterian Night Shelter this Thursday.  July will be a busy month as we add a fellowship meal with women and children at the shelter, and hopefully become a regular presence at the Thistle Hill Food Truck Park in the hospital district.




God is moving and working in our congregation and our community, and we are blessed to be able to answer God's call with the Five & Two Food Truck Ministry.


Already, after conference and the article in Fort Worth, TX magazine, we are receiving calls about how we can partner with other churches and agencies in our community and our state to help eliminate hunger and share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with those in need. 


When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick. That evening his disciples came and said to him, “This is an isolated place and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.”
But Jesus said to them, “There’s no need to send them away. You give them something to eat.”
Matthew 14:14-16

Feeding ... Everywhere!

 

Whew!  This has been the hardest "soft opening" in the history of openings!  We are officially commissioning the Five & Two Food Truck on June 7, but when the community caught wind of what we were doing we got busy sooner than we expected. 

 

The original plan was to do the April 25^th Race for the Cure event as a trial run and use May to get everything in place to launch the ministry in June.  Obviously God had other plans.  We got invitations for May events from Mayfest and Betsy Price’s Compassionate Community effort that collaborated with Feed the Children Everywhere.

 

 

 

On May 1, Five & Two fed over 300 people at a special opening of Mayfest for FWISD special needs children.  This past weekend, we served hundreds of volunteers who were participating in the Feed the Children Everywhere event where over 300,000 meals were packed to be sent to Mexico, Africa and right here in Ft. Worth. Our next event will be feeding Como Food Pantry clients and volunteers.  June will begin with the Dedication of Five and Two on June 7, followed by an appearance at the Central Texas Annual Conference, June 8-9.

 

Beginning in June, we will begin serving dinner to 30 homeless veterans once a month at the Patriot House and in July we will begin serving dinner and ministering to over 100 women and children at the Presbyterian Night Shelter, also once a month.

There is so much excitement about this new ministry, both in the community and within our AHUMC family.  It is humbling and overwhelming to know that we are able to respond to God’s call to help “the least of these.”  This is has been a great few weeks and we are looking forward to an amazing first year of the Five & Two Food Truck Ministry!

Twelve Baskets

 

"And all ate and were filled; and they took what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full."  Matthew 14:20

 

 

 

Abundance,  noun: 

1. an extremely plentiful or over-sufficient quantity or supply:

an abundance of grain.

2. overflowing fullness:

abundance of the heart.

3. affluence; wealth:

the enjoyment of abundance.

 

 



 



 

Wow!  This past Wednesday, we offered a Food Handler's class to anyone who would be interested in volunteering on the Five & Two Food Truck.  Much to my surprise, over SIXTY people filed into the fellowship hall to be certified!!  What an amazing affirmation of the support of this new and exciting ministry!  We will have no shortage of willing and certified food handlers to work on the truck at our upcoming events.  Speaking of which, I'd like to highlight the first three events that Five & Two will be serving food.

• April 25th, Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure

                   Serving breakfast tacos

• May 1st, MayFest:  FWISD Special Needs Day

                   Serving lunch to Special Needs students and teachers

• May 15th, Como Food Pantry

                   Serving a "thank you" breakfast to volunteers

We hope you can join us for one or all of these events, contact Allen at alutes@ahumc.com for more information!

I've been testing the recipes that we'll be "selling" for donations at multiple locations and the AHUMC staff got the chance to try it out.  Big thumbs up for our Street Tacos, Cuban Sandwich and Mushroom Swiss Burger! 

The Children and Horizon Seekers Sunday School Class donated the most cans to our recent canned food drive for WestAid (we gathered almost 600 cans total!) As a prize for winning, these two groups get to name two of our menu items!  The Children have the task of naming the Grilled Cheese sandwich from our children's menu and the Horizon Seekers have the naming rights of our Pulled Pork Street Tacos. 

It is truly humbling to see God's hand at work in this ministry

The excitement is building and we are ready to get rolling in a few short weeks. 

See you on the road!

God is Good!

God is Good! 

As we near the first public appearance of the Five & Two Food Truck, it is exciting to see God at work in this ministry. 

We will be serving breakfast tacos at the Fort Worth Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on April 25^th.  This will be an excellent opportunity to serve God by supporting this cause, but also allow us to share our dreams about this ministry with the thousands who are expected to attend. I hope you can join us there!

I was blessed to spend a few hours at the Presbyterian Night Shelter last week taking a tour and exploring how we can best serve our homeless neighbors. 

• Currently the Presbyterian Night Shelter is housing 45 women and 80 children between the ages of 3 days and 17 years old.  We will be partnering with the shelter to provide a meal to these women and children once a month as well as providing fellowship and guidance for the women and spending time playing with the children.  
• Also at the PNS, there is a unit called Patriot House which houses 30 homeless veterans.  We will also be providing a meal and fellowship for these men once a month as they struggle to get back on their feet.   Both of these opportunities allow us to be in ministry WITH those in need. 
• Many families at Cook Children’s are “long term.”  As such, their finances are often stretched and it is difficult to eat affordably.  Also, frankly cafeteria food gets old.  We are working to partner with Cook Children’s to identify those families who are “long term” and will be offering them vouchers for a free meal at the Five & Two Food Truck which will be parked in the Thistle Hill Food Park at least once a month.  

We are not alone in building the Kingdom of God.  These partnerships allow us to work in community with others to help share the love of Jesus Christ as we break bread together. 

Jesus commanded us to “care for the least of these” in Matthew.  These are just a few of the ways that we plan to do just that.  Your continued prayers and support are greatly appreciated. 

Want to help?  Contact Allen Lutes at alutes@ahumc.com

The Beauty of a Loaf of Bread

Every third Friday, several members of our congregation and I volunteer at the Como Mobile Food Pantry.  We help distribute healthy food to hundreds of our neighbors who are in need.  My job is typically to help carry the heavy boxes and bags of food to the cars of those who are unable to do so themselves.  I always enjoy meeting new people and learning a little about them as we walk together. 

Yesterday, one of the last people in the line was an elderly gentleman.  He took quite a bit of time at the last “station” which holds all the bread.  As we walked out to his car, he asked me if I had ever seen a loaf of bread and just thought about how beautiful it is.  He searches for beautiful loaves of bread when he can, and was very thankful to receive two loaves which he deemed beautiful.  It’s not the visual beauty that he is talking about, however.  He explained that the most beautiful part of a loaf of bread is its inherent cry to be shared with others.  He can’t eat a whole loaf by himself in one sitting, so he seeks out others who can break bread with him.  If he can’t find someone, he shares it with the birds.  They are all God’s creation, he explained, and he loves the fellowship that can be discovered over that shared bread.

I commented that there was a reason that Jesus broke bread that night in the Upper Room, and that we continue to do so today.  His face lit up.  “You get it,” he said.  When Jesus gathered his disciples together the night before he gave His life for all, he broke the bread and told them to eat “as this is my body, given for you.  Do it often in remembrance of me.”  We gather in houses of worship and partake in the sacrament of Holy Communion.  Today was a reminder that the breaking of bread and communion need not be limited to within the walls of the church, or in a liturgical context.  Communion can be had over shared meals, even when one is sharing with birds in the park. 

“Do this often in remembrance of me.”   

The Five & Two Food Truck ministry seeks to bring the living Christ out into the world.  As we meet our neighbors where they are and break bread with them, we are doing so much more than feeding the hungry.  We are proclaiming the beauty of a loaf of bread, the beauty of communion and fellowship and the beautiful Gospel message that Jesus loves them. 

Five and Two

In the Gospel of Matthew, when Jesus and the disciples were faced with a crowd of over 5,000, the disciples told Jesus to send them all away to get food as it was getting late.  Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away.  You give them something to eat.”  When faced with what seemed like an impossible task of feeding so many in need, the disciples wanted them to fend for themselves.  Jesus had other plans, however.  He tested them. 

“You feed them.” 

In the Gospel of John, a small boy brought forth his meager five loaves and two fishes and offered them up to feed the huge crowd.  That boy had the faith that the disciples lacked at that time.  And with those five loves and two fishes, the crowds were fed.  There were twelve baskets of leftovers after all had their fill.

“You feed them.” 

When we look around at the number of homeless in our community, the thousands of children who do not know when their next meal may be, and the working families struggling to feed their families, it seems an impossible task to address these problems.   Arlington Heights UMC has heard the call to “give them something to eat.”  Through the Grace of God and the support of this congregation, we have been able to purchase a food truck.

“You feed them.”

                We have many dreams for this ministry, which include:

• Feeding the homeless healthy meals at times where accessing meals are difficult.
• Feeding children on free and reduced lunches healthy snacks and meals in the “gap times”
• Providing VBS at city parks and community centers
• Hosting cooking classes to help families on SNAP learn to prepare healthy meals for their families
• Feeding first responders and victims of natural disasters

“You feed them.”

                I am pleased to announce that the Food Truck Ministry has a name: 

Five and Two:  A Street Food Ministry of Arlington Heights UMC. 

We are currently working on a logo design for the truck, and the Food Truck Ministry Advisory Board will be meeting tomorrow night to begin the planning process of putting the truck on the streets of our community.  We are asking for your prayers as we plan ways to make a difference in our community by bringing the church directly to those in need.

We have listened to God’s call on this church and are excited to respond by being the hands and feet of Christ in our community. 

“We will feed them.”

Beginnings

The dream is being realized.  A food ministry has been a dream of mine for a very long time.  A little more than a year ago, Arlington Heights United Methodist Church was introduced to the idea of food truck ministry.  Through the grace of God and the support of this congregation,  I was able to pick up the food truck yesterday.  I cannot begin to express the excitement that I am feeling at this moment.  It is humbling and amazing to see God at work.  As I look at this blank canvas of a truck, I see endless possibilities to be the hands and feet of Christ in our community.  Hunger is a real and serious problem in our world and right in our backyard.  We can make a difference by feeding the physical needs of the hungry, while at the same time building relationships and communities to allow God to use us to address the hunger of the spirit.  In Matthew 25, Jesus tells us how to respond to the “least of these” among us.  The AHUMC Food Truck Ministry will be a powerful and unique way to live up to this command.  Stay tuned for more information as this ministry is created and launched.  I am grateful to all who have helped make this happen, and to all who are stepping forward to help as we move forward.  It’s going to be hard work, but the harvest will be plenty.  Let’s get cooking!