Food for Thought

(Photos courtesy of FFTToledo/flickr)

Two weeks ago, I went downtown to the main library on a Saturday morning to help a church group hand out sack lunches, hotdogs, coffee and hygeine items as part of their ministry called Food for Thought.

The lunches are delivered and mainly prepared by one church, but volunteers and food donations come from several different churches and groups.

I helped hand out fruit. Lots of people get in line over and over again and the food just gets handed out until it's gone. It's all very casual and low-key, like a backyard picnic in the grass.

While food is a major focus, Food for Thought considers forming relationships its main purpose. Volunteers are encouraged to hang out as long as they want and just talk to people. Many of the volunteers come every Saturday as do the people who come for food. So there are lots of "Hi! How ya doing?" and greeting people by name, which is cool.

The first time I went, I asked the guy in charge if he was familar with Ohio Benefit Bank and if it might be OK for me to come with some information to hand out to interested people next time. He actually was familiar with it (yay!) and said it was an excellent idea. So this past Saturday, I went again and brought some brochures.

At first, I set up shop at the end of the food table, but people were so focused on grabbing the food, they didn't even glance at the brochures. I moved over to the coffee/beverage table, but found the same thing. I had better luck at the personal hygeine table. Another thing that might work for next time is printing up some kind of flyer to just stick in each person's bag for them to read later.

It's a perfect setup since the event is right outside the library, so it would also be superconvenient to make an appointment with someone for right afterward, right there. I also talked to some people from one of the churches about OBB who seemed interested in learning more.

Speaking of library convenience, I had an appointment at the library right after with this guy who'd just gotten out of prison. He'd filled out a food stamp and medical application on OBB while there, but had somehow already lost the paperwork they handed to him on the way out. He just needed me to print it out again, so that was easy. Even better, now that he was out of prison, I was able to e-submit the applications, saving him a trip to Jobs and Family Services.

When he grinned, gold caps flashed. He said I was nice and asked me if anyone was bothering me. He said just let him know and he'd take care of it haha. So I guess I'll keep that in mind.

Hear that? Don't mess with me.