For the past few months, changes to the Ysleta Lutheran Mission Human Care (YLM) Emergency Food Program has resulted in wonderful opportunities for outreach, fellowship and kindness by service-minded organizations and churches in the El Paso and Juarez area.

San Pablo Lutheran Church members have stepped into helping with the process of assembling food baskets every week, as well as assisting with distributions on Saturday mornings.  However, they are not the only ones.  What was once the Emergency Food Program has become the San Pablo-YLM Food Pantry, or the Zion-YLM Food Pantry, or the Ascension-YLM Food Pantry, or the El Paso 4H-YLM Food Pantry, depending on the weekend.

Zion members, 2 year old E and her mother, work together to fill food baskets with basic staples

“Our goal is to help churches and organizations reach out to the community by using our food distribution program as a bridge.  We want to be a source of help as they increase in faith, service and awareness to how they can serve their neighbors,” Rev Dr. Karl Heimer, CEO of YLM, shared in regards to the changes taking place, “It’s been an interesting experience to see people of all ages working together and taking ownership of the distribution, of taking on the Food Pantry and making it theirs.”

The new process and purpose of the Emergency Food Program has encouraged many churches and groups to reach out and adopt a weekend where the Food Pantry is theirs –from preparing food baskets on Friday to the distribution occurring on Saturday mornings, they take on the whole task of caring for the community with the support of San Pablo members and YLM.

Zion members distributed to over 250 families on their Zion-YLM Food Pantry Weekend

“We found the whole process to be smooth and easy to accomplish,” Sharon Amastae, member of Zion Lutheran Church in El Paso, shared in regards to the weekend they adopted in early November, “The volunteers and staff were very helpful in having everything set up for us when we arrived.  From showing us what would go into food baskets on Friday to giving us a quick overview of how the distribution would happen on Saturday morning.  It was all well organized and we enjoyed the opportunity to serve the surrounding community.  We’re definitely looking into doing it again.”

Members of Ascension and Our Father from Colorado work together to bag boxes of oranges to give to over 250 families the next morning

Zion Lutheran’s team of seven, including children as young as two years old, successfully assembled and distributed food to 250 families during their weekend.  An equal amount of families was served by Ascension Lutheran Church two weekends later.

Twelve members of Ascension Lutheran, the youngest five years old, worked together, side by side, with several members of San Pablo and Our Father Lutheran Church from Centennial, Colorado, on the last Friday of November.  From bagging oranges to unpacking pallets of non-perishables, they successfully assembled over 300 food baskets.

Member of Ascension and Rotary Club volunteer laughing as they work together to distribute cans of peaches

On Saturday morning, the Ascension Food Pantry team, including three teenagers and a young girl of eight, helped upon arrival to set up tables and take out the extra items –bread, eggs, and produce –in preparation for the distribution, which starts promptly at eight every Saturday morning.  For two hours, they helped fill up baskets, carts and boxes with kind smiles.

“We plan on taking on a weekend every quarter in 2020,” Rachel Witty, member of Ascension Lutheran Church and chair of the Youth Board, explained, “We want to instill the joy of serving others in our youth, and we’re happy to have members of our congregation join us in taking ownership of the distribution through YLM.”

“This is what we want,” Miguel Muñoz, facilitator for the San Pablo-YLM Food Pantry pointed out as people who were meeting for the first time laughed and worked together, “To help foster connections between people –whether from churches, clubs, schools or organizations.  We want to be a bridge between people who are in need and people who want to serve.  We want everything we do to point people to Jesus…always to Jesus.”

Schedule to Adopt a Food Pantry Weekend for 2020 by calling (915) 858-2588 and asking for Miguel Muñoz
or send e-mail at info@ylm.org