The Lord's Neighborhood Diner

Tonight at the Outreach Team meeting, we heard a presentation by Joann Winesdorfer, a member of the board of the Lord's Neighborhood Diner.

The Lord's Diner offers a weekly meal for homeless people. Meals are prepared and served at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Bremerton, and although the Lord's Diner itself is a separate organization, it has close ties to St. Paul's. Joann and several other board members are members of St. Paul's.

Currently the Lord's Diner is in transition and has not served meals since last year. The woman who used to run the program died and it was necessary to re-structure and re-vision the Lord's Diner. The board has been working for months to re-write its bylaws and articles of incorporation. They've worked with attorneys and other professionals to make sure they're meeting all the standards necessary, and they're working to recruit enough churches and organizations to make it a successful program.

Joann asked if St. Antony's would be able to assume responsibility for one meal every two months. Meals will be served from 3:00 to 5:00 PM on Saturdays, and it takes 6-12 people to set up, prepare and serve the meal, and clean up afterward. We decided that we would take her request to our parish and see what response we get.

I think our participation in the Lord's Diner is a good idea for the following reasons:

• Feeding the homeless is part of our core mission -- the "Go" in "Gather, Grow, and Go".
• We need a hands-on ministry where we actually serve our neighbors.
• There's a growing homeless community and people need to eat.
• St. Paul's is our sister church and partnering with them is a good thing.
• There's a new rector at St. Paul's and it's a good time to start a new phase of our relationship.
• The Lord's Diner is starting a new phase of their life and it's a good time to join them.
• We have a history of helping with the Lord's Diner.
• Serving meals to the homeless will be energizing and rewarding for us at St. Antony's.

I believe this mission is important and I plan to preach about us partnering with the Lord's Diner. I'm sure we'll get a positive response and I hope this will be the beginning of a new and rewarding ministry at St. Antony's.