By Marcia Troup
For the past five years, Shepherd’s Heart Fellowship in Osceola, Ind., has held a Paper and Hygiene Pantry to help those on food stamps, which does not provide such products. Also, these items are not readily available at food pantries. Every month, people come to our facility to receive three paper products, three to four personal or cleaning products, and laundry soap. We have had as many as 60 patrons.
At the start of the pandemic, we extended our services with a prayer station, to address the spiritual needs of all who desire prayer and encouragement. We still collect prayers and encourage our members and friends to pray with us each month.
This month, we decided to re-instate a community meal and invited all the Pantry patrons who had come in July. We put name tags at each table setting. Our members mixed with our patrons at the tables to get to know each other better. After a welcome and a short devotion, everyone was served a bowl of goulash. There were baskets of garlic toast on the tables, with brownies and drinks available. We were able to share Christ by giving away a book on Jesus as a door prize to one of the patrons.
We had a good time talking and laughing together. We plan to continue this event once a month and hope to have more families from the community join us for these simple meals. It was a blessing to show Christian hospitality to all who participated, to extend his love in relationship both within our congregation and with our new friends.