Churches come together to feed the hungry

Published 11:00 pm Friday, September 12, 2008

STANWOOD — Frank Ford, 66, cooks most of his own meals.

Except on Thursday nights.

That’s when the self-described loner comes to the Gathering Place in Stanwood for a hot, homemade meal.

For many years, Ford was self-employed. He worked on cars. He doesn’t have insurance or retirement money. Medicaid pays for the medicine he takes when his heart starts hurting. The small, white niacin pills would cost him more than $500 per month, he said.

Now he lives alone, not far from Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church, where on Thursdays, volunteers from one of 14 Stanwood-area churches transform its gym-sized social hall into a weekly dining spot for the hungry.

The Gathering Place got its start in June 2006. A group of youth directors from several Stanwood-area churches wanted to create a missions project for the youth in their churches, said Barbara Christofferson.

Christofferson is a member of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. She makes sure the The Gathering Place is open and ready for business each Thursday.

“Of course the youth grow up and move on,” said Christofferson, “so now it’s kind of morphed into something where many people — adults and youth — help out.”

In the beginning, volunteers were serving meals to five or 10 people each week, she said.

That number has increased to an average of between 30 and 40 people each week. The Gathering Place provides meals for families with foster children, young adults, single men and older people in wheelchairs. They come from Stanwood, Camano Island, Silvana, Warm Beach and as far away as Arlington and Everett.

On Thursday, Richelle Rorex, who said she lives “in between Stanwood and Everett,” arrived alone just after 5 p.m. She had come from Everett. People at the YMCA there had told her about The Gathering Place, she said.

She asked about the clothes stacked on the platform at the front of the room.

Jim Hughes, a volunteer from St. Cecilia’s Catholic Church in Stanwood told Rorex she could pick out some clothes for herself.

Hughes has been helping with the The Gathering Place almost since its beginning. In addition to assisting at the weekly dinner, he coordinates the volunteers for the program at his church and he and his wife gather clothes for local shelters.

Volunteers from the participating churches take turns setting up, preparing the food, serving and cleaning up at the end of the night, Hughes said.

On Thursday, the New View Church of Stanwood was hosting the dinner.

Roughly a dozen volunteers from the church were scattered around the hall. Some were in the kitchen, cooking the chicken, putting slices of cake on plates and making bowls of salad, preparing for their guests to arrive.

Rick Clarke, his wife, Cathy and their home-schooled son Alex, 10, were greeting people and later helped serve coffee and water. They had been attending New View for about a month, said Rick Clarke.

Cathy Clarke said Alex got excited when she told him about The Gathering Place. During the evening, he happily checked on the people seated at the tables.

Gathered around tables in groups of four or five, roughly 30 men and women sat in silence or talked quietly as they enjoyed baked chicken with brown or white rice, salad, white or wheat rolls, and apple crisp with vanilla ice cream.

The meal started at 5:30 p.m. The group gathered in a circle. They held hands as they stood for the blessing.

Cindy Kinney, in charge of the kitchen for the evening, thanked God for the nice weather, the opportunity to be together and for “the nourishment of our bodies and souls.”

Then, people started lining up for the food.

Ford went back for a second helping of chicken and several cups of coffee. Rorex left in a new outfit, wheeling her bicycle.

Reporter Leita Hermanson-Crossfield: 425-339-3449 or lcrossfield@heraldnet.com.

How to help the hungry

Numerous churches and agencies in Snohomish County provide food and meals to needy families. Contact Volunteers of America for a list of churches offering meals and a list of local food banks. 425-212-3220, 425-259-3191, www.voaww.org.

Food Lifeline offers a food distribution program for churches and other meal programs.

800-404-7543 or 206-545-3663, www.foodlifeline.org.