Food that ministers to humanity

Many residents of Kalamazoo, Michigan, were thrilled last year when Trader Joe's opened a local store. But it didn't matter to the city's homeless. They could never afford to eat such expensive food, or could they? Earlier this month, the food store had a serious problem. It's freezers stopped working. But Trader Joe's knew what to do. They called the Kalamazoo Gospel Mission, which serves 600 free meals every day to the homeless. The mission quickly assembled a team of employees and volunteers and went to Trader Joe's to pick up a donation of 35,000 pounds of food -- the biggest donation they have ever received. Greg Weaver, director of the mission's food services, said, "We'll just have to cook our way through it."

                                                                                                                      Kalamazoo Gazette
What really stood out to mission staff was the quality of the food donated. Ribeye steaks, salmon fillets, orange chicken, gourmet cheese and high-quality produce are not usually served at the mission. Weaver explains why the donation was so important. "It's one thing to eat food that gets you by. It's another thing to eat food that ministers to your humanity. Every opportunity we have to uplift somebody's dignity through food, we aim to do it. Trader Joe's helped us accomplish that."