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<< Previous   of   Next >> Contributed photo  (click to enlarge) Judy Lanfear and the Rev. Sarah France of Morning Star Lutheran Church in Monroe work together in the Brown Bag Brigade.   ADVERTISEMENT   Brown Bag it For more information on how to volunteer or donate to Brown Bag Brigade, go to www.morningstarlc.org or call 360-794-2111.   Related Stories • Snohomish moves to head off card rooms 5/9/09   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Saturday, May 9, 2009 Four Monroe congregations join to feed area's hungry By Christina Harper Herald Writer MONROE -- The Rev. Sarah France, pastor of Morning Star Lutheran Church, was writing a grant three years ago that focused on how to serve the poor. While working on the application, she called together her church and three others in Monroe: Monroe United Congregational, Church of Our Savior Episcopal and Monroe United Methodist, a group that had formed a cooperative ministry called Faith Choices. Congregational members began to talk about ways to serve in the area that were manageable, sustainable and could be copied by other churches. The idea for a food program where volunteers would make lunches and drop them off at various locations began to take shape. "I popped awake at 2 a.m. and thought, 'Brown Bag Brigade,' " France said. Volunteers from the four Monroe churches meet at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesdays to make almost 150 lunches that are delivered to five locations in Monroe and Sultan. The group has served almost 14,000 homeless and hungry people throughout the last two years. "Monroe is like every other community," France said. "When we started this we didn't know how much it was going to be needed in the future." Brown Bag Brigade funding originally came from the grant supplied by the Northwest Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Church members now support the program through donations. Judy Lanfear, a member of Monroe United Methodist Church, is the coordinator for the Brown Bag Brigade and has been with the program since the beginning. Lanfear has seen a marked rise in numbers in the two years that she has been helping serve. "It started at 55" lunches, Lanfear said. The Brown Bag Brigade is receiving support form organizations in the community. Sky Valley Food Bank donates bread for the sandwiches and a group of Red Hat Society women in Gold Bar bake cookies for the lunches, too. A group of church members from Arlington have visited the Monroe volunteers to learn about the program. They hope to start one in their own area. Recipients of the lunches sometimes share their stories. One woman commented that if somebody cared enough about her to make sure she had food, then she would get clean and sober. "I think that all of us there want to serve others and we want to serve people in need," Lanfear said. "And this is the way we can do it." Christina Harper: 425-339-3491, harper@heraldnet.com. READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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