Since 2019, my husband and I have spent several hours on most first Sundays of the month with a group of volunteers making twelve dozen sandwiches—PB&J and turkey and cheese—to serve hungry and disadvantaged folks in Austin, Texas.
Once sandwiches are made and individually bagged, the Mobile Loaves & Fishes (MLF) team loads up a food truck with sandwiches, chips, cookies, fresh fruit, boiled eggs, and water, along with donated clothing and brand-new socks. We work in teams of six to ten volunteers to prepare the food and stock the truck.
A smaller group of volunteers then rides in the truck to deliver the meals to those in the Austin area who experience food insecurity due to homelessness or poverty. My husband and I “make the run” several times a year, and it’s genuinely one of the most satisfying activities I participate in each year.
Mobile Loaves & Fishes began their truck ministry in 1998 as a Christian outreach to the homeless population in Austin. There are now truck ministries operating out of seven centers, or “commissaries,” in the area. Each is hosted by a church. My husband and I serve with the Downtown Alliance in Austin, with a commissary at First United Methodist Church, across the street from the Texas Capitol.
When we arrive at the church on our assigned Sunday afternoon for the dinner shift, we lay out tables and cover them with clean butcher paper, wash our hands, and don gloves. The instructions for what should go on the truck are taped to the kitchen refrigerator: always 48 PB&J and 96 turkey and cheese sandwiches.
Kitchen shelves hold bins of donated bread, jars of PB&J, individually bagged chips and cookies, mustard and mayo packets for the meat sandwiches. In the fridge, there is sliced meat and cheese, bottled water, maybe fresh fruit, fruit cups or pudding cups. Sometimes, there’s bagged dog food. An assortment of toiletries or perhaps candy. Sometimes volunteers bring boiled eggs—very popular! Available supplies depend on donations. The printed instructions tell us what to pack.
There’s also a large closet with clothing donations that we can include as we have room. One side of the food truck holds the food, and the other holds clothing. Our truck visitors love to sort through the clothing! That side is usually a mess by the time we return. But it’s wonderful to see someone smile when he finds a T-shirt he thinks will fit or a warm sweater when it’s cold.
Our runs usually include a set of apartments for physically and mentally disadvantaged adults, and/or Republic Square Park in downtown Austin, where there are usually a couple dozen homeless folks. We also sometimes visit an apartment complex with many children who come for their families’ food bags.
Each visitor to our truck is greeted with a smile and a word of welcome. We serve lemonade and ice pops from the back of the truck in summer and hot cocoa in winter. We ask visitors what they would like from the truck and fill their bags according to their wishes. The standard is two sandwiches of their choice and two bottles of water, plus their other choices.
If someone doesn’t want applesauce, but he wants two bags of chips, that’s okay. If a child wants three meal bags for her family and extra Oreos for herself, that’s okay too. We fill bags and requests as best we can until we run out of food.
We try to reserve three or four bags of meals in the truck cab to serve people we see on the way back to the church after the run. The truck is recognizable, and many people near highway overpasses, along downtown streets, or at bus stops know we have food. We serve as many as we can.
MLF trucks run each day for breakfast, lunch, and dinner from at least some of the hosted churches, but they visit different locations. Our MLF leader chooses locations and signs up for them the day before our run. After serving this community for more than two decades, it’s a well-oiled system. Dozens of volunteer groups make it work.
The Mobile Loaves & Fishes organization has another ministry for the chronically homeless called Community First Village, which I’ll highlight in another post. My husband and I have also participated in this program, but in a more limited capacity.
It’s always been important to me to give back to my community, and I’m happy to share this information about MLF as part of my series on organizations I support that serve my community. Next week, I’ll report on the activities of the Truth Brigade, another political action organization I belong to.
Janice Airhart 