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Category Archives: Loaves & Fishes Blog
New Ways to Feed the Need
These are exciting times for Loaves & Fishes as we have found some new ways to do old things. Our big fundraising event of the past few years “Feed the Need” has gone from a dinner/dance/auction in our warehouse to a multi-media appeal for support. This year, instead of attending an event, we are inviting […]
“It Makes Us Feel Good”
Opening the mail at Loaves & Fishes is always an adventure – you never know what you will discover – donations (expected and unexpected), bills (also expected and unexpected), letters of thanks from former clients, or maybe a postcard from a vacationing volunteer. The envelope looked like a thousand others. But a note fell out […]
My Busman’s Holiday
On a recent trip to the Midwest I had the opportunity to visit several food pantries in Illinois and Michigan. I had not looked forward to making the trip, travelling alone didn’t really appeal to me. But I came back excited and energized. The large Loaves & Fishes in Naperville, IL, just outside Chicago, […]
A Rare Treat of the Rice Krispie Kind
I often tell people that Thanksgiving is the biggest holiday of all for Loaves & Fishes because it is all about sharing a big meal. But having celebrated Easter last month with family and friends I realize what an important part food again plays. It is my great joy to look down the length of […]
Big News: Royal Weddings, Osama bin Laden and a Bowl of Soup
The news lately has been big – Royal Weddings, Osama bin Laden’s death, tornadoes and more tornadoes; exciting and scary stuff. It’s easy to get caught up in big events. I had great fun at a Royal Wedding party last week – arriving at 4:45 a.m. to find the hostess in her pajamas and a […]
Exactly How Fresh Are Those Eggs?
You never, ever know what the next phone call will bring to Loaves & Fishes. Yesterday morning Bill, one of our long-term volunteer pantry coordinators, called the office with a unique problem. He said a woman had come into the pantry wanting to donate fresh eggs. Not a daily occurrence, but not that unusual. But […]
To Give Up or Provide
One of the perks of having an office inside a church is the convenience of stepping next door for special midweek services. As I attended the noon Ash Wednesday service at St. Luke’s Lutheran, to mark the beginning of Lent, I was struck by a phrase used in a prayer: “Merciful God, accompany our journey […]
How Sweet the Sound
We often say at Loaves & Fishes that we don’t expect folks to say thanks when we give them food. Sometimes the current crisis in their lives obscures everything else, sometimes it’s just too hard to acknowledge that they are in a place they never expected to be. But when someone does say thanks it […]
If Tables Could Talk
A friend saw the line “every meal has a story” in a local grocery store. How true! It made me think of special meals in my life; not all banquets or even holidays, but significant meals. I thought of all my cooking mistakes as a young bride – I didn’t know you had to cook […]
Up On Whose Rooftop?
A co-worker likes to tell about one of her children who questioned why they were filling a shoebox for Samaritan’s Purse. “Why doesn’t Santa bring toys to poor kids?” Why indeed. I expect in the midst of the sheer overindulgence of this holiday season there are a lot of poor kids wondering – why me? […]
