Congratulations to the winners of the FHL Week 2017 Challenge! Here are some of the winners: Shiloh MBC Missional Food Pantry, You Feed Them Missional Food Pantry, UJIMA Community Services and IUPUI Paw’s Pantry. Their innovative ideas could change the image of food pantries and food ministries in Indianapolis and beyond.
FHL Week 2017 was covered with a nice article by The Indianapolis Star at the outset of the week long showcase of outreaches supporting Missional Food Pantries in Indianapolis. FHL Week has been going now for 12 years. As founder Merlin Gonzales observes: ” [FHL Week is] a testimony of what God can do through willing people!”
Congratulations to the winners of the FHL Week 2017 Challenge! Here are some of the winners: Shiloh MBC Missional Food Pantry, You Feed Them Missional Food Pantry, UJIMA Community Services and IUPUI Paw’s Pantry. Their innovative ideas could change the image of food pantries and food ministries in Indianapolis and beyond.
FHL Week 2017 was covered with a nice article by The Indianapolis Star at the outset of the week long showcase of outreaches supporting Missional Food Pantries in Indianapolis. FHL Week has been going now for 12 years. As founder Merlin Gonzales observes: ” [FHL Week is] a testimony of what God can do through willing people!”
The residents of Hope Indianapolis at Hawthorne Place Apartments got together and decided to make a change for their community and address the food insecurity some were experiencing. As a result, Hope Indianapolis Food Pantry opened for the apartment residents during FHL Week 2016 providing hope to those who are in need. Hawthorne Place had been operating a food pantry for some time with Faith, Hope and Love as a sponsor.
Merlin spoke with some of the potential clients and the women running this new food pantry about what they think this food pantry will mean for their community.
It was an exciting step forward for this community as its members worked together to make it happen and FHL was there to support them. Merlin also spoke with a volunteer from the original Hawthorne Place food pantry to get her perspective on the changes they have experienced.
Over 70 school-aged Children in the Forest Ridge Apartment Homes were blessed and grateful to receive a back-pack filled with much needed supplies for the new school year. They learned about the love of God, having a heart like God and watching for God in their lives. The children also have the opportunity to remember the day by leaving their colorful handprint on a large canvas representing their unique identity in Christ. They played “Freeze Dance” where every time the music stopped they had to freeze where they were and yell out “What I See God In” which we hoped would be a wonderful reminder to them to be aware of the presence of God in all creation. Most importantly, over 30 children and 3 adults that day accepted Christ as their Lord and Savior!
FHL Week is about a week of faith-based outreaches in the Indianapolis area. But that doesn’t stop volunteers from outside Indianapolis from coming to help and being blessed by God for so doing.
This past week a group of young volunteers from Evangelical Community Church in Bloomington , IN came in their van with their youth pastor, Rob Girvin to help out with the FHL Warehouse stocking shelves, lifting refrigeration units and doing general clean up both inside and out. Before coming down to Indianapolis, the group stopped by the home of a local disabled woman who works from home and blessed her with some groceries that the children had donated.
Listen as Merlin talks with this youth group about how volunteering with FHL to help others has blessed them
Merlin spoke with one of the winners of the FHL $50 Challenge at the 25th Street Baptist Church on 525 W. 25th. during FHL Week 2016: a group of clients from a soup kitchen.
The 25th Street Food Ministry serves a group of very appreciative clients with a community soup kitchen and they in turn wanted to give back to the volunteers who serve them. So they put together a meal prepared by a working chef who volunteered his time.
Listen as Merlin interviews the clients of a very special soup kitchen in Indianapolis, 46208