Feeding a need
Published 7:51 pm Wednesday, April 27, 2011
MONROE — Arcelia Henriquez has learned to love cooking. That happens when you come from a family of 11 siblings.
When she heard one of her pastors at the Rock Church talk about feeding the hungry, she immediately came on board.
A year and a half later, Henriquez is an indispensable force in the church’s Adopt a Block ministry. Two dozen adult and teen Rock Church volunteers each week cook a hearty meal, pack boxes full of groceries and go out to feed those who are down on their luck.
It started when pastors Kathy and Ron Warren decided to provide meals for low-income families in east Snohomish County. They found out folks in a Snohomish mobile home park needed help and started coming there with home-cooked meals and bags of fresh fruits and vegetables.
“We thought, if we are going to do this, we need to give them a really good meal,” Kathy Warren said.
Volunteers now serve two low-income apartment complexes in Monroe and other places in Snohomish, Sultan and Gold Bar. Rock Church teams also feed people in Ellensburg and Wenatchee.
Adopt a Block members don’t just go into neighborhoods. They’ve adopted several homeless camps scattered throughout Sky Valley.
When they first started coming, the men in these camps were guarded, Ron Warren said. They didn’t believe the Rock Church volunteers would return. But they did, week after week, and the homeless men came to trust them.
“When you hear their stories, you are just amazed,” Ron Warren said. Some are Vietnam vets. For some, the meals brought by church volunteers are the only ones they eat regularly.
In winter, volunteers also brought warm socks, hats and gloves.
“Everybody needs to know that they are cared about, even the homeless.” Kathy Warren said.
The Adopt a Block program provides about 120 meals weekly just in Snohomish County. It started with 35.
Several professional cooks from the congregation are an endless source of tips and recipes. On Tuesday afternoon, volunteers were making Italian sausage stew, spreading the fragrant aroma far beyond the tidy church kitchen. Someone had baked several batches of cookies and dropped them off at the church. On the other side of the building, volunteers were sorting through groceries and packing them in boxes. The food is donated by grocery stores — because it’s near the expiration date, for example.
In the kitchen, Henriquez was jokingly scolding a couple of teenagers. She wasn’t really mad at them. She was happy.
“You forget about everything when you are doing this,” she said. “It’s really inexplicable how you feel in your heart.”
Katya Yefimova: 425-339-3452, kyefimova@heraldnet.com
How to help
If you want to donate food or volunteer with Adopt a Block program, email the Rock Church at info@trclife.com, call 360-805-0699 or go to www.therockchurch.info.
