"The loaves and fishes"... or in modern times "the pizza dough and jimmy dean sausage patties"

6-1-10
Wow.

I know I start off almost every single post with “wow”.. but that is about all I can say when I start out to write these things! Today was especially “wow” though!

We started off our day very early… 5 30am! Yikes! I didn’t even get up that early to leave for the airport! Sigh.. nyways. We had to be over @ the church bright and early at 6 30 to start preparing everything for the feeding program.

Upon our arrival, (which might I add was pretty prompt considering the hour!), we were put to work individually bagging loaves of bread, as well as bags of bagels and rolls. I thought we were doing pretty good, till they started bringing in the boxes from the truck! Let me tell you… they just kept coming, and coming, and coming! Between 6 45-8 we went from about 5 trash bags full of bread to countless milk crates, as well as palates upon palates of prepackaged buns, rolls, loaves, and everything in between! If you ever wondered how Jesus fed the 5,000, I am here to tell you that I have a sneaky suspicion that Church on Fillmore was involved!

On top of the bread that had been donated by the bakeries… there was another interesting thing that was brought to us to bag up.. dough. That’s right.. frozen bread dough.. ranging from small breadsticks, to large breadsticks, rolls of all shapes and sizes, loaves, buns, and even pizza dough! It was nothing short of unique and hilarious! Even the “Fillmore Normals”** said it was strange for even them to see that! By the end of it all we definitely had caked on dough all over our hands and shirts from the crumbs mixed with ice chips. Oh yeh, and our hands were pretty cold too! Haha..

After we FINALLY were able to finish bagging bread (with the help of about 4 more volunteers!), I got a chance to step back and look around. As we were bagging, I had noticed all of the men bringing in crates and boxes and all kinds of stuff and placing them in different places around the room, but it had never really registered with my mind what they were bringing in, and how much! All I was concerned about, honestly, was whether or not that stack of crates or boxes was for us to divide up too! Not to complain, or be ugly of course.. but in my mind, I was just thinking that at the rate we were bagging, next to the rate they were bringing in more things to bag, we were NEVER going to finish in time!! Haha.. but we did.

Nyways.. moving on.. we finished and I looked around only to find that the rest of the food line had begun to take shape as well! Before us in the line was all kinds of frozen meats and random other things.. I mean, everything from lbs of jimmy dean sausage, to microwavable breakfast sandwiches, to frozen juice, to hot dogs and brats, to frozen pizza’s, gigantic blocks of cheese… you name it, they probably had at least one of it up along the line somewhere! There was also a huge stack of assorted pastries.. again, everything from elmo birthday cakes to donuts, to gigantic carrot sheet cakes, to hostess snacks.. all kinds of fun, sweet stuff!

In my mind, as I looked around the room, I was thinking that for as much food was there, it still was not much considering the amount of people that were supposed to be coming through the line in just under an hour. Well, little did I know that I was only seeing a small part of the food line!! Ah yes.. step outside, and you find the entire PRODUCE section! I’m telling you, they had the sidewalks of the other side of the church completely lined with palates and crates and huge boxes full and overflowing with produce! They had cabbage, and cauliflower, and peppers, and corn, and potatoes, and green beans, and cherry tomatoes, and regular tomatoes… all kinds of stuff. It was incredible. It seriously looked like a farmers market out there!

Anyways.. so we settled in for a few minutes break before we had to get back to work. I washed some potatoes for the volunteer’s lunch.. and then it was time to round up for prayer. After prayer, Marlee and I were once again blown away by a new surprise! WE got to go through the line and get food for ourselves! What?!? Haha. I guess all of the volunteers get to go through and get food for their families.. so Marlee and I grabbed some boxes and before we knew it, people had thrown enough food in our boxes to possibly feed the 5,000 ourselves! Ok, maybe not.. but to two little girls who had been happily living off of tuna salad and peanut butter sandwiches and cereal for the past week.. yikes, it was CRAZY! Craziest of all, I have to say though.. is the fact that somehow.. I’m still not completely sure how.. but somehow I ended up with an ENTIRE CASE of cherry tomatoes. Yes dear friends.. and entire case! I’m talking, 15 or so lbs of cherry tomatoes. I have tomatoes to feed an army. Or at least the Kendall family for probably a month! And the funny thing is that I’m the only one who eats them! I even tried to give some away to Roxann and John, and they wouldn’t even take some! Good gosh this should be interesting… I guess I need to find some pasta and start cooking homemade sauces or something!! Sigh.. I don’t even know.

Ok, moving on.. soooo.. after we went through, then it was time to roll! At first the families were trickling in, but then before we knew it, it was a steady flow of families making their way around the outside of the room and out the other door headed off to produce. It was amazing. I seriously almost started crying a few times. I wish I could have set up a video camera of this.. maybe I will some day. We’ll see. But for now, let me just say that it was incredible to watch. Families, ranging in age from infants all the way up to grandmas and grandpas, and I’m sure even a great grandma or grandpa even all came in groups. Each person old enough to carry something had some type of container to hold all the food in. For as much food as Marlee and I ended up with, we turned down about half of the line, just because we didn’t need it! So yeh, we saw everything from laundry baskets, to shopping carts (or buggy’s or whatever you call them), to rolling trashcans, rolling coolers, strollers, cardboard boxes, plastic totes, grocery bags, cooler bags, luggage carts, red flyer wagons, backpacks… just about anything that would hold a decent amount of groceries we pretty much saw go through the line.

For as diverse as the food and containers were, the people were just as diverse. I already mentioned they ranged in ages, but also in languages, races, nationalities, etc. I’m pretty positive I even saw a Haitian couple go through the line. I would almost bet my right arm on it, but I didn’t get a chance to speak to them. The line was moving too fast, and before I realized what I was seeing (and hearing!) they had disappeared out the door.

And for as much bread as we had, there were definitely times when I thought we were not going to have enough! As it turned out, the pastries went first, and were eventually followed by the bread and dough that we had bagged up.. but as for the prepackaged bread products we ended up with probably ten or so palates left over..

amazing. Absolutely amazing. I’m still trying to process the whole thing! From the moment we got here, people had been warning us of how crazy Tuesday mornings are, etc, etc.. but really, we were just blow away not by the busyness or the craziness, but at how many people were being touched in such a short amount of time! They said that almost 400 families came through the line today. 400 families.. include parents, children, grandparents, cousins, you name it. How AMAZING is that? And yet, how SAD is that? They say that when this program started 25 years ago, they only had 90 families. And even up until a few years ago when John came, it was only 175. But over the years, and as the economy has declined, it has increased more and more. Yet God is faithful and continues to provide food, even in great abundance of what is needed. It is such an incredible reminder that God is still in control, and will take care of our needs, no matter how down life gets..

After lunch and a quick nap was our first shift in the gym, or Family Life Center, or FLC, or whatever you feel like calling it.. Thom Tom came and showed us the ropes. It was fun, but not much to write about. After that we got to go with Roxann to LA fitness.. ha. Wow. That is a whole other post, let me tell you. Too funny.

Anyways. My laundry is done, and I’m sure most people have tuned out long ago. I’m mucho tired. (Like how my Spanish is improving? Ha) so I’m gonna go grab my stuff outta the dryer and head to bed. Night loves..

Blessings,
~Kat K.