BRAWLEY — While its cause has remained the same, a lot has changed for Brawley Feed the Need over the past five years.
On Wednesday, the non-profit celebrated its fifth anniversary. It was formed on July 1, 2015, and has since stuck to its cause by providing a free meal to anyone in need five days a week.
Volunteers sign up for each day of the month to provide food.
While intended to feed those experiencing homelessness in Imperial Valley, BFTN welcomes anyone to come pick up a meal — no questions asked. Recently, the non-profit has also provided free showers and laundry services to those in need.
There wasn’t much of a celebration going on Wednesday, aside from Spears Hawaiian Shaved Ice being parked out front and handing out free snow cones to those receiving meals.
Rosalind Servin, the non-profit’s founder, and her support staff spent the day operating as usual.
BFTN, which is located on North Eight Street just across from Brawley Fire Department Station 1, serves about 45 meals a day each afternoon, including Wednesday.
The real celebration was going on in the heart and mind of Servin. Her creation has come a long way since it first began.
In its early days, Feed the Need operated out of basically any space it could find.
It started as a simple humanitarian effort. Servin was asked one day if she would like to help distribute meals, and she accepted.
So she, with the help of volunteers and donors, began loading up her minivan with food and going around parks in Brawley to serve the homeless.
She eventually formalized the effort as Brawley Feed the Need, which continued to distribute meals via her minivan.
“When it first started, I didn’t expect it to get like this,” Servin said. “I didn’t even know what to expect at first.”
Soon, Servin received a call from a church in Brawley that invited the fledgling charity to serve out of its kitchen.
Feed the Need stayed there about eight months. Eventually, the non-profit developed a rotation of about four churches it would use on a month-to-month basis.
In November 2016, Servin received a “stay as long as you want” invitation from Foursquare Supernatural Church to serve out of its dining hall.
At the time, the non-profit only served meals at the hall and used a separate, small office in Brawley for storage and all of its other day-to-day business operations.
After about three years and some months, Foursquare told BFTN it would have to relocate, as it planned to use the facility for other purposes.
The next day, the manager of the Eighth Street space that BFTN currently occupies contacted Servin and worked out a deal.
Servin estimated the dining hall at the new space is about double the size of the Foursquare hall.
She also estimates that the entire facility is about four times bigger than the office space BFTN previously had.
The new space has a shower and a washer and dryer, which are amenities Feed the Need has never been able to offer before.
Additionally, the new space also has a room that the charity uses for classes and group studies.
The new space also features a bigger food pantry and storage space, where the organization keeps extra clothes, shoes, blankets, pillows and other essentials for those in need.
The space was previously occupied by the DayOut adult day care center. BFTN moved into the space in December 2019.
“As things have evolved, I’ve become more passionate,” Servin said. “I’ve grown to love it so much where I now have a vision and see future goals.”
Servin was recently able to replace her minivan, which she had to get rid of because the transmission failed. In early March, she purchased an SUV.
The rear seats can fold down, which is especially helpful for non-profit when it’s time to pick up food bank supplies.
Since it began serving in 2015, Feed the Need has never gone a weekday without serving.
Servin explained that the COVID-19 pandemic and all the precautions that have come with it kept Wednesday’s celebration to a bare minimum.
“We decided to just have a celebration to the extent that we’re able to, which is just the snow cones and just the acknowledgement of the gratefulness of just being able to stay open right now and to be open all these years by community efforts,” she said. “Because that’s what this is, this is just a community effort thing.”
While there were too many to list, Servin explained that support from local businesses, organizations, churches, social clubs, families and individuals have kept BFTN in existence.
“Sure, I’m the one who has to drive it and stuff, but I wouldn’t be able to do it alone,” she said. “It’s everybody that’s bringing stuff, helping in different ways, that make these doors stay open.”
On Wednesday, Servin was offering face masks to anyone receiving meals. She was also collecting donated items for victims of Sunday’s fifth-alarm fire in Niland.
She had her 7-year-old daughter, Mikah, helping her.
Another mother-daughter duo, Patricia McKinley and Mary Ann Isaac, was also present Wednesday.
Isaac has been BFTN’s office manager since the start.
After seeing the work that her daughter and BFTN have been doing, McKinley began volunteering, and has done so for a little more than a year now.
“When you’re down and out, there’s always someone worse off than you are,” McKinley said of her decision to volunteer. “And I enjoy doing this. I feel young. I feel good doing this.”
As of late, Servin, Isaac and McKinley have been working to organize and better utilize the non-profit’s Eighth Street location.
“It’s come a long ways,” McKinley said. “I know we’ve got higher goals, but I don’t know if we’re going to reach them or not.”
"feed" - Google News
July 05, 2020 at 02:50AM
https://ift.tt/38pISN5
Brawley Feed the Need celebrates five years of serving - Imperial Valley Press
"feed" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2z3xEQN
https://ift.tt/2yko4c8
Bagikan Berita Ini
0 Response to "Brawley Feed the Need celebrates five years of serving - Imperial Valley Press"
Post a Comment