Are you hungry to volunteer with a ministry that’s making a difference every day?
In Alabama, many interdenominational, Christian-run ministries provide help to the needy by serving daily meals, and they need help from church members to feed even more people.
In addition to locations for national ministries like The Salvation Army, there are Birmingham-area ministries like Jimmie Hale Mission, The Old Firehouse Shelter and The Community Kitchens of Birmingham; Rose of Sharon Soup Kitchen in Huntsville; The Friendship Mission in Montgomery; and 15 Place in Mobile, along with several others in smaller communities.
The Anniston Soup Bowl, for example, has been able to operate with an open-door policy five days a week since 1984 because of the help of local church and community members.
“Without them, we would be in a terrible position of not having funding to provide employees to do what they do for us,” Linda Turner, director of the Soup Bowl, said of volunteers who serve the meal and even assist with preparation and clean up.
And while it is thrilling to see offers of help ramp up during the holiday season, year-round volunteers are vital to keeping these ministries functioning, said Tony Cooper, executive director of Jimmie Hale Mission, which has been around for more than 65 years.
“It’s a good situation to have, but we get inundated with volunteers around holidays and sometimes have to turn people away, especially on the holiday itself,” he said.
“Common sense would tell you if you had that extra help all year long just how it would not only improve the quality of service but also enhance and increase how much you could do,” Cooper said.
Last year, the mission served 184,000 meals with the help of 6,561 volunteers.
“The more people involved as a whole, the more you can get done, and so who knows what impact it would have on the clientele you are serving if you had all you need all year long,” Cooper said.
Check your local listings for a hunger organization near you. (TAB)
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