Food Pantry & Community EXPANSION
Donation protected
Make no bones about it, we are trying to introduce people to Jesus Christ. We just realize it works best when you do the kind of things Jesus did. Talking about it is one thing. Doing something is another.
Doing something is better.
In the book of James, it says,
"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."
- James 2: 14-17
We'd have to agree with ole' Jamesey on this one. Faith, without works is dead. It's also really boring. So...we decided to not be boring and start our own food pantry a little over a year ago. We've been a church for almost 10 years, but there are lots of excuses not to do stuff you ought to do. For a long while, we "partnered" with other organizations who were doing good in the world.
We would muster up some goodies every now and then to send off to some place in the hopes that everyone would feel good at the end of the day. The only trouble was, people kept showing up on our doorstep in serious need of help. You can only give people other addresses and phone numbers for so long.
Fast-Forward a little bit and we are giving bags of groceries to 40 needy families in our first month. Skip another couple weeks and we're open for business two days a week and we've now added a Soup Kitchen to our list of amenities. A few months later we realize "Soup Kitchen" isn't all that accurrate since people are receiving gourmet meals most of the time.
Currently, we are giving large bags of groceries to over 100 families per month...the bigger the family, the bigger the bag. We've changed the name of Soup Kitchen to "Community Dinner" and we are averaging more than 90 people per weekly meal. To say the very least, we are going through a lot of food.
Food is always a worry, but it's not my biggest worry.
My biggest worry is how we are really treating people. Our mission is; "To bring the incredible life of Jesus Christ to the lost & broken on the west side of Cincinnati." When we ask ourselves the question of "Are we doing that well?", some things are left to be desired. One thing particulary won't stop bothering me.
"Are we showing people dignity?" Here's what I mean:
The above photo is where we host our weekly (Monday nights from 5:30-7:30pm) Community Dinners. It's a huge space that God has blessed us with, and it has loads of potential. You know what "potential" usually means, right? It means it's a mess.
There's a huge section of flooring missing.
Other parts of the floor have disintegrated due to continual flooding issues.
Many of the flooding issues come from the bad windows, and crumbling window wells.
A lot of work has already been done. We've re-wired the space. Added in new lighting and fans, etc.. Now we're to the point where we want to fix the rest, but we don't have the cash. We're not looking to make it some kind of fancy space. We just want it to be a place where people are comfortable and where they're shown they matter.
When a space looks like this, the unspoken statement is "This is what you're worth." We're not okay with that. The people we are serving are already in a rough spot. They're already to the point where they have to get groceries from a Food Pantry and eat whatever they can find for free. We want them to experience a little bit of peace, rest, hope, and dignity as they travel through this time of struggle.
A miracle shows off God's power. Giving someone dignity shows off God's love.
Please consider donating to the renovation of our Food Pantry / Community Meal space. Your donations will also go toward the purchase of food that will get to the neediest people in our area. Anything at all would be a blessing. Thank you.
Love Wins,
Ryan Detzel - Lead Pastor @ Vineyard Westside Church
3420 Glenmore Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45247
(513) [phone redacted]
Food Pantry Hours: Mondays 6-8pm, Thursdays 2-4pm
Community Meal: Mondays 5:30-7:30pm
If you'd like to serve with our Food Pantry or help out with Community Meals, please contact: [email redacted]
Steps to be completed for this project:
- Concrete to be purchased, mixed, poured, & finished.
- Floor repair & leveling
- Walls repaired & painted
- Stage built for live music / entertainment / speaking
- Old windows removed
- Block to be installed 2/3 up window openings
- Glass block on upper 1/3 of window openings
- Drain pipes in window wells to be extended up
- Dirt to fill in window wells
- Removal of old, ugly metal railing
- Landscaping planted in new dirt for well planters
- Additional fans installed
- Not to mention food / supplies for pantry & community dinners. There will be photo updates!!
Doing something is better.
In the book of James, it says,
"What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."
- James 2: 14-17
We'd have to agree with ole' Jamesey on this one. Faith, without works is dead. It's also really boring. So...we decided to not be boring and start our own food pantry a little over a year ago. We've been a church for almost 10 years, but there are lots of excuses not to do stuff you ought to do. For a long while, we "partnered" with other organizations who were doing good in the world.
We would muster up some goodies every now and then to send off to some place in the hopes that everyone would feel good at the end of the day. The only trouble was, people kept showing up on our doorstep in serious need of help. You can only give people other addresses and phone numbers for so long.
Fast-Forward a little bit and we are giving bags of groceries to 40 needy families in our first month. Skip another couple weeks and we're open for business two days a week and we've now added a Soup Kitchen to our list of amenities. A few months later we realize "Soup Kitchen" isn't all that accurrate since people are receiving gourmet meals most of the time.
Currently, we are giving large bags of groceries to over 100 families per month...the bigger the family, the bigger the bag. We've changed the name of Soup Kitchen to "Community Dinner" and we are averaging more than 90 people per weekly meal. To say the very least, we are going through a lot of food.
Food is always a worry, but it's not my biggest worry.
My biggest worry is how we are really treating people. Our mission is; "To bring the incredible life of Jesus Christ to the lost & broken on the west side of Cincinnati." When we ask ourselves the question of "Are we doing that well?", some things are left to be desired. One thing particulary won't stop bothering me.
"Are we showing people dignity?" Here's what I mean:
The above photo is where we host our weekly (Monday nights from 5:30-7:30pm) Community Dinners. It's a huge space that God has blessed us with, and it has loads of potential. You know what "potential" usually means, right? It means it's a mess.
There's a huge section of flooring missing.
Other parts of the floor have disintegrated due to continual flooding issues.
Many of the flooding issues come from the bad windows, and crumbling window wells.
A lot of work has already been done. We've re-wired the space. Added in new lighting and fans, etc.. Now we're to the point where we want to fix the rest, but we don't have the cash. We're not looking to make it some kind of fancy space. We just want it to be a place where people are comfortable and where they're shown they matter.
When a space looks like this, the unspoken statement is "This is what you're worth." We're not okay with that. The people we are serving are already in a rough spot. They're already to the point where they have to get groceries from a Food Pantry and eat whatever they can find for free. We want them to experience a little bit of peace, rest, hope, and dignity as they travel through this time of struggle.
A miracle shows off God's power. Giving someone dignity shows off God's love.
Please consider donating to the renovation of our Food Pantry / Community Meal space. Your donations will also go toward the purchase of food that will get to the neediest people in our area. Anything at all would be a blessing. Thank you.
Love Wins,
Ryan Detzel - Lead Pastor @ Vineyard Westside Church
3420 Glenmore Ave. Cincinnati, OH 45247
(513) [phone redacted]
Food Pantry Hours: Mondays 6-8pm, Thursdays 2-4pm
Community Meal: Mondays 5:30-7:30pm
If you'd like to serve with our Food Pantry or help out with Community Meals, please contact: [email redacted]
Steps to be completed for this project:
- Concrete to be purchased, mixed, poured, & finished.
- Floor repair & leveling
- Walls repaired & painted
- Stage built for live music / entertainment / speaking
- Old windows removed
- Block to be installed 2/3 up window openings
- Glass block on upper 1/3 of window openings
- Drain pipes in window wells to be extended up
- Dirt to fill in window wells
- Removal of old, ugly metal railing
- Landscaping planted in new dirt for well planters
- Additional fans installed
- Not to mention food / supplies for pantry & community dinners. There will be photo updates!!
Organizer and beneficiary
Ryan Detzel
Organizer
Cincinnati, OH
Deb Heim
Beneficiary