Meals-Loaves & Fishes

Helping Feed Our Neighbors
 Would you like to help Lansing-area neighbors in need? 
 The St Vincent de Paul Society at St John Church and Student Center invites members of the St. John-St. Thomas Aquinas parish family to prepare a home-cooked meal for the guests of Loaves and Fishes Ministries, one of Lansing’s overnight shelters for the homeless.  As a parish, we will prepare and serve meals on the second and third of the month.  Students, singles, and families are invited to participate.
Details:  

• Consider teaming up with friends, MSU students, or other parishioners.  Sign up using this link.  Additional details will be provided upon signing up.
• Plan your dinner to feed 15 adults and include a main meat dish, a vegetable, a second side dish, and dessert.  Rolls and beverages are optional.  The St Vincent de Paul Society offers to cover the cost of the meal up to $60.
• Meals should be delivered between 5:15 and 5:30 pm to Loaves and Fishes Ministries just northwest of downtown Lansing — at the corner of Oakland and Sycamore.  (If you wish, we have drivers who can deliver the meal for you.  Or another opportunity is when you deliver the meal, you can stay and serve it to the guests.)
•   If you have any questions, contact our coordinator, Paul Charette, at 517-420-3651.

• Soon after you sign up, we will call to answer questions you have about the meal, delivery, reimbursement, etc.  
• We will provide food preparation gloves, aluminum pans and lids, and insulated carrying containers.  
• We encourage you to prepare a favorite family dish.   Loaves and Fishes staff tell us they frequently receive pasta dishes throughout the month.  And  their guests do enjoy Mexican dinners, but anything you wish to prepare — including pasta dishes — is most appreciated. Loaves and Fishes Ministries provides the plates, silverware and napkins.  They also provide water or lemonade as beverage choices.  However, if you wish to bring a gallon of milk and dinner rolls with your meal, please do.
• Since we hope to involve as many parishioners as possible in this ministry, we ask you to sign-up only in a six-month period.  
• If you need a kitchen to prepare the meal, arrangements can be made to use one of the parish kitchens.  
• Delivering and serving the meal: our hope is that you will be able to deliver and serve the meal to the guests.  While you may have a group of friends or family come together to prepare the meal, only 1 or 2 people are needed to serve (as space in the Loaves and Fishes Home is rather tight).  Serving the meal should take about 10 minutes.

You are answering the Call of the Gospel.  We bless you and thank you for your time and generosity.

Loaves and Fishes Ministries at 831 N Sycamore St, Lansing was established in 1981 in response to the critical need for shelter in our Greater Lansing community.  Loaves and Fishes Ministries annually provides nearly 4,400 people a night in their shelters and more than 13,000 meals.   For more information about Loaves and Fishes go to:  loavesandfisheslansing.org