Loaves and Fishes

I discovered a whole bunch of new things about food pantries trying to help a pregnant mama yesterday. This woman chose life through the efforts of the sidewalk counselors for Cities4life, and we had promised her help. So help her we would! Her family which included several children had no food in the house....not a bite....when I arrived with a bag of maternity clothes. I bought them groceries to tie them over, but found out that a pastor or doctor can refer a family to Loaves and Fishes, who will provide a full week of emergency food to the family. The pastor needs to report approximately 6 things about the family to refer them, with a simple phone call (those are copied at the end of this blog for Charlotte area folks who know of people in dire need.)

Then Loaves and Fishes contacts the nearest church in their network (you can find all the churches on their website) and the family is eligible for a generous week worth of food for the whole family. I contacted the church nearest this family, who not only had a food pantry, but a generous clothes pantry as well, ( and a super nice pastor.) This info will really be a life saver for this family and I suspect could help a lot of the mamas we work with as sidewalk counselors for Cities4life.

When I arrived with the bag of maternity clothes, which were purchased by a lovely group of women who desire to help the mamas who choose life, I found out that the pregnant daughter had no bed. The other children in the family shared beds, and some slept on the floor. I certainly am not rich, but honestly, this is a world I have never been a part of. It filled me with grief. I remembered the twin bed in our home that no one uses any more. My boys are grown and gone. I called my husband to ask if we could bring this family the bed. He hesitated, not because he didn't wish to do it, but because that was the bed our oldest son had slept in for 18 years. It brought back a flood of memories of the joys of raising Anders, now in a distant city in a life of his own.

Nonetheless, my husband agreed, and with nostalgia, we took apart the bed, and lugged it to the family in need. The pregnant girl, L, met us at the door. She had been helping her family clean all day, and was exhausted, but had no place to lie down. She had been in terrible pain the day before, and it turned out, she had been sleeping on box springs...without a mattress. No wonder she had been in pain! Arvo set up the bed, and within moments,  L was lying stretched out on her new bed. Arvo poked his head in her room before we left.
"Comfy?" he asked.
"Yes," she said softly.

As we got back in the car, I asked, "Do you feel better now about donating Anders' bed to her?"
"I do," he answered, the memories of loving our own children swirling in the car about us.

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GUIDELINES FOR MAKING REFERRALS 
TO LOAVES & FISHES 
The Loaves & Fishes’ office accepts referrals from 9:00 until 4:30 Monday through Friday.  We depend on the approved agency, congregation or school to determine that the client has an emergency need for food. Loaves and Fishes provides a week’s worth of nutritious groceries to individuals and families in a short-term crisis.  We do not provide food on an ongoing basis. A client may not receive food more than once in 45 days.  Often clients in this situation have begun a process that will eventually enable them to provide for their own needs. We trust the judgment of the referring agent for return visits after 45 days.   
When a referral is called in we will need the following information:  
1. Name, Date of Birth, Social Security Number, Gender and Race of every adult in the household (we consider adults to be 19 and older)  2. Current address of the individual or family (including the zip code)  3. Total number of people in the home should include the number adults (let us know if any of the adults are 65 or older) and the number of children 18 and under (let us know if any of the children need diapers)  4. Monthly household income (this has no bearing on the clients ability to receive food or how much food they receive – it is used for internal accounting purposes only)  5. Client’s preferred pantry location and date of pick up – please have a second location in case the first choice is at capacity. Please go to our website at www.loavesandfishes.org under the Agency Materials tab for a printable version of our Pantry Locations and Hours of operations.    
You will be calling 704-523-4333 to make your referral.  Please have all your information ready and please call from the office phone so the agency name appears on caller ID.  No referrals are to be made from cell phones.     
Loaves & Fishes  P.O. Box 11234  Charlotte, NC 28220 704-523-4333 www.loavesandfishes.org

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Hebrews 13:16 

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.

Philippians 2:4 

Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Luke 6:38 

Give, and it will be given to you. Good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap. For with the measure you use it will be measured back to you.”

1 John 3:17 

But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him?