In May 2008 the “Not-so-serious” Bible Study group of Mission Bay Community Church decided to explore what the Bible says about the poor. As a more hands-on part of our study, we sorted donated food for people in need at our local food bank. We enjoyed volunteering together, but wanted to do more. In our discussions around Bible passages, we believe God moved us to serve the working poor. We particularly saw a need for fresh, healthy food. As we discussed different outreach efforts we were familiar with, it became clear to us that we were not only supposed to meet peoples’ physical needs but we also needed to expand our community. So we decided to start a food pantry at our church. We met with the ever helpful and inspiring Sara Miles from Saint Gregory’s Food Pantry, who encouraged us to represent what we like about our church in our food pantry. As we are drawn to Mission Bay by the sense of community, we hope to create a friendly space where neighbors can be in community while picking up groceries. Everyone is welcome. We currently serve about 400 families every Saturday.
We are grateful for the support and enthusiasm we have received from everyone involved in this project and we would love to have your support as we move forward. Please contact us!
If you would like to read more about our history, please read our MBCC blog posts: “It only takes a spark: The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed” and “3… 2… 1… Blast Off!” For current blog posts, please visit blogs.missionbaycc.org/food-pantry or read a volunteer’s reflection at faithsact.org/blogpost/food-thought.
The mission of the Excelsior Community Food Pantry is to strengthen the Excelsior community by distributing food to families in need.
- Fostering a collaborative, inviting atmosphere where all volunteers/community members can meet to enjoy snacks and conversation while selecting free groceries.
- Promoting the importance of service, creative generosity, sincere respect and care for our neighbors, and the interconnectedness of all people.
- We believe in the power of faith, hope, love and to bring people together in acts of kindness.
If you are interested in the details of how we run our food pantry, feel free to check out our operations guide (a diagram of how our pantry is set up) and our list of captain’s responsibilities. (Each time we choose a captain and cocaptain to lead food pantry.)