Reminder: Feeding the homeless this Sunday

This Sunday, Franklin Street Community will be serving Richmond's homeless population as part of "Loaves and Fishes" at the Conrad Center (1400 Oliver Hill Way) from 11 am to 2 pm.

Churches from the Richmond area handle preparing and serving food to the city's homeless population at the Conrad Center, and we handle lunch on the third Sunday of each month. Typically about 25 men and women (and sometimes children) show up and bring a huge appetite. They usually eat about 60 meals-worth of food.

We've become much more efficient in how we split tasks and prepare the food and have become a well-oiled machine with great teamwork. We've also tweaked the menu to cater to the likes and dislikes of our patrons. For instance, salads are rarely touched. Both a vegetable medley of tomatoes and cucumbers with Italian dressing and cooked corn and lima beans are much preferred.

We've been so fortunate as to serve the poorest of Richmond, because although they may not have much money, they're certainly not poor in spirit. We've learned a lot from the experiences, and have hopefully shared the love of Christ. While it's initially uncomfortable, there's no better way to reach the homeless than getting out there and sitting and sharing a meal with them.

We'd love to have you join us - see you at 11 am.

Put your Sunday where your mouth is...

If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?

James 2:16

Every third Sunday, FSC goes down to the Conrad Center on Oliver Hill Way to participate in Loaves and Fishes. We always have a great time and it's an awesome way to get to know the community and those you worship with.

In case you're not familiar with it, Loaves and Fishes is run by a group of churches who each take over one Sunday a month to provide a hot lunch to those who need it. FSC started out by participating in Stony Point Church's Sunday, but we've managed to take ownership of our own week and we are almost self-sufficient at this point.

Our next date for Loaves and Fishes is September 16th. We meet at the Conrad Center at 10:45. Lunch is served at 12:30 and clean up is usually finished by 2:00. If you're interested in more details, want to help, need a ride, let us know.

Keep James's words in mind - a pretty strong call to action, I'd say.

P.S. Whenever we read from James in church and the pastor says, "What James is teaching is that..." I always laugh because when I hear the name James, I automatically think of James Murphy and imagine him scribbling down all of his ancient wisdom onto piles and piles of parchment paper. And now you ALL will be thinking of that, too. Here's a picture of him. That will further ingrain his image into your mind:

Here he is enjoying some kind of stew, I believe. Doesn't he look warm and well fed? Totally goes with the verse.