For Lynn and Lois, volunteering at Fairbanks Lutheran Church’s Food Bank Mondays is its own reward. They enjoy getting to fellowship with the many members that come together every Monday to help distribute orders to the hungry people of Fairbanks. “Some of the guys seem to just come to chat and have coffee. It’s a good time,” said Lois.
But beyond the fellowship and joy of doing a good deed, there are spiritual benefits to volunteering at the food bank. Lynn was surprised that the people she was helping would give her blessings. “They bless me,” she said with a smile as if to say, I thought I was blessing them!
Moreover, even the act of placing a box of food in someone’s car is a crash course in Christian discipleship. “[Volunteering at the Food Bank] helps me practice not looking down on people. You really never know what someone’s situation is.”
Lois agrees that the Food Bank offers many opportunities for a Christian to practice their faith. “I was able to witness to one man who was looking for a church,” she said. “He was more concerned about what he should wear! I got to share a bit of our Lutheran theology with him. It doesn’t matter what you wear!”
“I get to serve the Lord and share my faith in a deeper way than just saying, ‘God bless you,’” said Lois as she counted up how many orders Fairbanks Lutheran was going to hand out this week: about 24 orders. Each order can have 2-10 boxes of food depending on the size of the family, and this week the Food Bank will feed 84 people.
Food Bank Mondays feed lots of hungry people, but it does much more: it feeds the Lutheran soul.