Hello fellow Martin’s volunteers!
We are holding down the fort here and thought you might like an update on what we are doing and how our guests are faring at this time.
- We are serving food bags out the front gate 7 days a week. Tuesday through Saturday we serve from 12:00-2:00 and the bags have a 32oz container of hot soup, a bottle of water, a hard boiled egg, a piece of fruit, bread and some sort of treat. Once a week we hand out socks. On Sunday and Monday morning from 9:00-10:00 we have oatmeal, eggs, bread and fruit.
- We have been making 300 bags on average for lunch and 175 for breakfast.
- There are seven of us working. Most of us have no contact with the outside world except for a bi-weekly trek to the Food Bank.
- Our guests are very appreciative. They seem to be in good spirits, generally. We have not observed anyone, so far, who appears to be ill.
We are hopeful that the city is moving as quickly as possible to institute the sheltering plans they have proposed. So far the number of guests has remained pretty stable but that could change at any time.
On a sad note, our sweet Phyllis Cardoza passed away peacefully this morning with her daughter by her side. Phyllis has been working on the Thursday lunch crew since the late 80’s and will be deeply missed by us all!
We pray that all of you are safe and healthy and we look forward to the time when we will once, again, all be working together to provide food and hospitality to our beloved guests.
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In gratitude,
The frontline seven