Wendy Gayle (left) and Kit Burns prepare hot meals and bag lunches in the kitchen at St. George's. They and other volunteers serve food to homeless people around Fredericksburg each month. View More Images from this story Visit the Photo Place

Answering Call Area churches feed the hungry

Area homeless rely on churches, faith-based groups for food and shelter

Date published: 3/11/2006

By NATASHA ALTAMIRANO

By NATASHA ALTAMIRANO

When Jan Saylor started feeding the homeless through a local soup kitchen four years ago, soup was the only thing volunteers served.

Once a month, Saylor and her St. George's Episcopal Church youth group would serve about 20 to 30 people from the makeshift kitchen run out of a Winnebago on Sophia Street in Fredericksburg.

The program has since evolved into a mobile soup kitchen that delivers more than just soup, said Saylor, the church's outreach director.

On the second Wednesday of each month, Saylor drives a St. George's activity bus to deliver full meals to about 120 low-income people who live in local motels.

"One lesson I wanted the kids to learn from this is we're going to feed the people the same sort of stuff we'd feed our families," she said.

St. George's volunteers prepare the meals.

"It's one of those ministries that feeds you in many ways on many different levels," said Wendy Gayle, who helps plan the menu and cook.

Working with homeless and low-income people provides a valuable lesson to youth-group members, Gayle said.

"The thing that is impressed upon the kids in meeting these folks is that they're just like anybody else," she said. "Some of them just have had some hard times."

St. George's is one of many Fredericksburg-area churches that provide free meals for the community.

Local faith-based organizations and churches are the lifeline of many homeless and impoverished people.

About 76 percent of food pantries, 62 percent of soup kitchens and 38 percent of emergency shelters are run by faith-based organizations and churches, according to a recent study conducted by the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank.

The study was part of the nationwide report "Hunger in America 2006," organized by America's Second Harvest, a national food-bank network that includes the area food bank.

The findings are based on face-to-face interviews with residents of the city of Fredericksburg and Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George and Caroline counties from February to June 2005, said Oya Oliver, director of the area food bank on Alum Spring Road in the city.

Micah Ecumenical Ministry, a coalition of seven Fredericksburg churches, operates an emergency shelter on nights when the temperature drops below 25 degrees.

Many churches and other religious organizations cook and serve dinner every night at the

Thurman Brisben Center, the region's homeless shelter.

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Date published: 3/11/2006