AT THIS HOUSE WE CALL IT SHARING
Recycle. Repurpose. Reclaim. Recover. These are all words used to reclaim an item that might have outworn its original usefulness, and reuse it for something or someone else.
At His House we have been doing that with clothing, sofas, and mattresses for about 9 years at our Minnetonka store and for 2 years through our warehouse partner RAK (Random Acts of Kindness). We pick up a sofa from one person and deliver it to someone who doesn’t have a sofa.
In this article I wanted to share a similar program at His House that we do all those same things but with food from our local food shelf and local churches. ICA food shelf does a wonderful job of serving the needs of our community through food. Their mission “to offer hope as we provide assistance to our neighbors in need.” When ICA has perishable food products that have almost reached their expiration, His House picks them up and delivers it to local families that may not have been able to get to the food shelf.
Every other Saturday, His House volunteers share nearly expired or perishables at our Minnetonka store with 29 local families that have a barrier to food sustainability. It can be a single mom with small children without a reliable car, it can be a family where mom and dad are both working, and it can be a family that regularly go to the food shelf but need just a little more.
His House always assists people to get to the food shelf…we just want to share food that might be called waste (reclaim, repurpose, recover).
His House volunteers also pick up food at Mount Calvary and many local churches, “leftovers” from funerals or weddings. We immediately distribute these “leftovers” that day due to its expiration or being perishable. We notify our families that struggle with food security to meet us at our Minnetonka store. We open the store for free shopping and make sure the families that live in the margins have what they need.
Yes, we reclaim, recover, repurpose food from a funeral to a family of 7 that is hungry. Is that repurposing, reclaiming?
At His House we just call it sharing.