CHILDREN
OF Gary, IN
ABOUT US
WHY SUPPORT THE
FEE FREE COMMUNITY CAFE?
Ask yourself, if you give homeless person ground beef and non-perishable how do they eat them safely? How does a family that living in a hotel due to fire or disaster cook a roast or a chicken and/or prepare beans or rice? What about the homes affected by power loss after a storm, safely store items they can’t use that day?
Millions of dollars for food and money donated will never reach the stomach. Some mistakenly give food and feel good about it. Never thinking if the person can safely prepare meals.
Those are some of the reasons why we created the Fee Free Community Cafe sponsored by people like you that donate and/or volunteer as part of a
Feed Thy Neighbor Coalition.
WHY IS 1MINITRY
FEE FREE COMMUNITY CAFE
DIFFERENT ?
We are not a restaurant!
We are not just a food pantry!
We are not just a soup kitchen!
We are not a Church!
We are not a Government Agency!
Then what is the 1Ministry's,
Fee Free Community Cafe?
We are a Hybrid!
The 1Ministry Fee Free Community Cafe is a place that:
-
provide quality meals with excellent service like a restaurant,
-
give ingredients (and recipes) to recreate the meal at home like a food pantry,
-
free of cost to the diners all free like a soup kitchen,
-
inspired by Christ like a church
-
helping the people like a foreign government (Ministry of Defense or Prime Minister [Foreign President]).
Did you know that the
1Ministry's
Fee Free Community Cafe
has zero employees and
we are 100% volunteer operated?
Nearly 85% of people in the near Merrillville, (South Gary), Indiana are considered to be living below the state poverty level. Most of those youths receive their morning and lunch meals through school and our Fee Free Community Cafe will address those needs on weekends, breaks and holidays which is volunteer staffed, managed by the Feed Thy Neighbor Coalition inside the One Ministry Outreach Center.
In the past two years, the number of youth living in households below the poverty level in Lake County has risen 13 percent annually. Many of those will find their way to our Fee Free Community Cafe daily meals program, where we serve breakfasts and lunches daily during days where there is no school.
The neighborhoods surrounding our Fee Free Community Cafe contains primarily lower middle-class families, the working poor, and older people living on modest fixed incomes in their small homes, or with their adult children. The Fee Free Community Cafe is the only possible safe environment for most youths, outside their homes and schools, and they will come nearly daily for companionship, recreation, and warm meals.
The One Ministry Outreach Center was founded in 2013 by the small church (35 members) in Highland, Indiana, which currently attempts to serve the neighborhood population of 25,454, approximately a quarter of Gary's total population. In terms of race, as of 2000, Glen Park was 86% African-American, 9% white, and 5.5% Hispanic.
The One Ministry Outreach Center's mission is to provide a safe and nurturing environment to support the social, physical, and health needs of the neighborhood's youths and their families. There is little industrial development, and most commercial development is clustered along the Grant and Broadway thoroughfares with no restaurants that offer tasty yet healthy meals. At least four volunteer staff assist in the Center's daily programs and activities throughout the year.
Your donates will help us safely combat food insecurities and provide a balanced meal at the lowest possible cost.We created a Fee Free Community Cafe for everyone that forage for food during our program times to have a hot meal. The Fee Free Community Cafe will be a restaurant style atmosphere that serves families. creating a Fee Free Community Cafe which provides quality Meals, with no cost to the diners!