Linda Williams is a dear friend of ours, and a faithful, active member of our church. Three years ago, she founded Five Loaves Food Pantry in Fillmore, and she has poured everything she has into it ever since. Canned goods for families, hygiene supplies for seniors, blessing bags for people sleeping on the street, and boxes for homeless kids in our local schools.
Outside of one or two faithful volunteers who show up for the Thursday Walmart run, she does this alone. She buys and hauls the groceries. She stocks the shelves and cleans the building. She meets people for appointments and drives boxes out to shut-ins who can't make it to the pantry themselves. And when something breaks, or a bill comes due, she's the one who has to find a way to cover it.
Right now that bill is the pantry's annual insurance renewal ($3,746), and there's only $770 in the pantry's bank to cover it. Without your generosity, Five Loaves may not make it to the end of the year.
Every gift goes first toward paying off that insurance bill. Anything raised beyond it goes straight back into the pantry: restocking shelves, covering other bills, and putting together blessing bags for those in need.
We know Linda. We've watched her give up her own time and her own money for this community she loves and feels called to serve. In her own words, from a post she wrote on Facebook:
"I see the people. I've learned about their lives and their struggles. I see the blessing that a can of fruit gives... To go into someone's home so destitute with no running water, heating or cooling, living in filth, who are so happy that somebody just talks to them, willing to acknowledge they are a person."
This work has never been only about food. It's about restoring the dignity of people who are so often overlooked, and in doing so, sharing the hope of Jesus with them, which they need more than anything else. Jesus saw people. He spoke with them. He sat with them. He met their need. Will you?
"I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me... Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me." — Matthew 25:35, 40
Five loaves fed a multitude once. He can do it again and multiply what we give today for our community.
Five Loaves NFP is a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit (EIN 93-3161407), so gifts made directly to the pantry are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.
