SNOHOMISH – One night in October 2004, Clark Beaver had a dream in which he was told to make 10 sandwiches and bring them to Everett.
For more than a month, the Snohomish resident kept the dream to himself. Finally, at Thanksgiving he mentioned it to his daughter-in-law, a devout Christian. She smiled.
Another month went by and after dinner on Christmas Eve, his daughter-in-law told Beaver she had just enough leftover ham to make 10 sandwiches. Though it was nearing 10 p.m., they made the sandwiches, put them in lunch bags, each with a can of pop, and drove to Everett.
“It wasn’t long before we had found 10 people who needed something to eat,” Beaver said. “That’s how this all got started.”
Beaver, his daughter-in-law Darcine Shaw and friends Gitty Stafford and Kathy Crane made the trip to Everett once or twice a week for about the next 18 months to feed homeless people out of the back end of Beaver’s pickup truck.
Today, Beaver is the volunteer director of Tailgate Ministries, which serves supper three times a week to as many as 160 people a night, averaging about 1,700 people served during the course of a month.
Beaver figures Tailgate has provided 13,000 meals since the ministry moved off the street last fall and into the downtown Everett Salvation Army kitchen and dining hall.
A handful of businesses donate to the cause on a regular basis. Service clubs and Navy personnel have helped out, and more than a dozen Snohomish County churches are now involved in the ministry. Beaver hopes the number of churches will rise to 30, allowing Tailgate to serve meals five nights a week.
“It’s a community meal, all done by donation and with the work of volunteers,” Beaver said. “We still have people who come off the streets from all over the county, but many of those joining us for a meal are nearby residents. Folks with low incomes who are trying to make it through the month, who have to choose between eating and paying for a prescription.”
The ministry also helps those who come to eat with finding clothing, housing, jobs, drug and alcohol recovery programs, education, and medical attention. Though not a requirement of getting a meal, spiritual guidance and Bible study also are offered every evening.
“We try to share the Lord. We plant a seed and we watch it grow,” Beaver said. “We’ve seen prostitutes and drug addicts get clean and sober. Some have joined churches and some volunteer to help with the meals.”
Beaver, a recovering alcoholic and Christian of nearly four years, said he found those first 10 people to feed underneath the freeway in Everett. He knew about the place, because years ago he had been there.
As a teenager growing up in the Silver Lake area, he started drinking and sniffing chemicals at his father’s manufacturing plant. A self-described chronic alcoholic by age 26, Beaver woke up one morning in his truck, $50,000 in debt, homeless and weighing 117 pounds.
He went to Alcoholics Anonymous and pulled out of trouble, he said.
In the 1970s, Beaver met and married his wife Beverlee and became a father to her son Jim Shaw.
Now 64, Beaver is the owner of Clark’s Painting, which has more than 40 employees.
His family, he said, is very supportive of his volunteer efforts, which took him back to the streets to help others.
“When we got started, sometimes people would complain about the crowds we drew when we pulled up with food. Then the freeway construction started,” Beaver said. “We got moved around by the police.”
Nevertheless, Beaver’s efforts became known among those who were hungry.
“One of our regular ladies called the meal a tailgate party. The name stuck,” Beaver said.
The first church to help support the work of Tailgate Ministries was Beaver’s own, Forest Glade Community Church, northeast of Snohomish.
His pastor, Bernie Travers, said he is happy Beaver wanted to share the work of helping to feed hungry people with the church.
“Our interests dovetailed. We hit it off as friends,” Travers said. “Clark has a great sense of humor, but he’s very serious about helping people.”
The ministry took off when the Salvation Army offered its kitchen and dining hall, Travers said.
“It’s clearly making a difference,” he said
On a recent Thursday evening, a group of about 75 men, 40 women and a child were gathered for dinner, and Salvation Army Capt. Dana Libby led the crowd and a dozen volunteers in prayer.
The night’s menu included barbecued pork sandwiches, soup, salad, pastries and soda pop. Some of those gathered took their plates outside to sit in the warm evening air.
Kris Edmondson is a regular at the meals. She and her husband live two blocks away.
“We’re low income and this really helps us,” she said. “The folks here are really sweet people. We’ve made a lot of friends here at the (Tailgate) meal.”
Volunteer Dean McCarty sat in his wheelchair in the corner of the room, running a Bible trivia contest, interviewing diners about their lives and listening to prayer requests.
Clark Beaver stood nearby and smiled at the scene.
“I have so much to be thankful for. The rewards of this ministry are great,” Beaver said. “But when I get to worrying about where the food is going to come from next week, I just look out at the people eating and I think to myself, ‘10 sandwiches, 10 sandwiches.’ “
Reporter Gale Fiege: 425-339-3427 or gfiege@heraldnet.com.
More sandwiches
To volunteer to help Tailgate Ministries, call 425-346-5266 or 425-334-5580.
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