Mobile Loaves and Fishes

It caught me by surprise how quickly the cold got under my skin and caused it to actually throb and ache with pain. The wind was brutal as it whipped down the streets of Providence last Saturday, the first day of December. Even though my fingers ached and my toes tingled from the cold my heart ached even more for the people that we met that day on the streets of Providence…the one’s that didn’t know if they would have a warm place to sleep that night or when they would get their next hot meal.

Last Saturday some of the JirehScope Ministry Team took to the streets of Providence on a training run with Mobile Loaves & Fishes (MLF), a new program to feed the needy right where they are on the streets. This miracle-on-wheels has finally come east of the Mississippi. We are excited and count it as a privilege to partner with The River Community Church of Woonsocket in serving the people in Rhode Island in this way.

We started off on Saturday by preparing over 200 hot dogs and 60 peanut butter sandwiches which were then loaded onto the MLF canteen truck along with fruit, chips, cookies, juice, hot coffee and hot chocolate. We also loaded on socks, gloves, hats, scarves, outerwear and some stuffed animals and off we drove into Providence.

Our first stop was Kennedy bus station where we were inundated with a crowd of people in minutes. Even with six of us working the truck we could barely keep up with the crowd pressing in to receive what we came to give them. One moment stands out among the rest at that stop…. A little girl was brought to me on the “clothing side of the truck” by an older woman and they asked if we had a hat. I was able to give her a pair of hot pink ear muffs, a bright and colorful scarf which brought a smile to her face. But her face light up with delight when I introduced her to her new friend-a bright white teddy bear. I watched her walk off into the frigid cold day hugging her newest friend.

We were asked to move from that location so we quickly boarded up and headed off to Crossroads, a facility that provides care for the homeless. Once again when they heard we were there throngs of people crowded the truck and we were quickly consumed with getting them food and something hot to drink. Within one hour from the time we opened the truck doors at Kennedy station we were closing the empty truck at Crossroads. Wow!

As we headed back to the commissary to clean out the truck we warmed our hands and feet and although we were filled with excitement that we had been able to provide hot food to so many we were humbled that God had chosen us to do His work this day.

It is now Tuesday and the day is once again cold and the ground covered with a dusting of snow and ice and I carry with me today a new perspective, a new brokenness for the homeless. I pray that God does not let me forget the suffering of these people nor the way that some showed compassion to me as they offered me their gloves for my cold hands.

The only thing they asked was that we should remember the poor, the very thing that I was eager to do. Galatians 2:10

To get back to JirehScope Ministries website, click here.

To purchase Troy's new Christmas song, to benefit Moblie Loaves and Fishes (RI), click here.

~Ruthann