After five years of serving Sanford’s homeless community on Sunday afternoons with hot food, clean clothing and other essentials, the ARK — volunteers performing Acts of Random Kindness — is expanding in response to a growing need.
To stretch the reach of this ministry, God needs more people to serve as His hands and feet.
The ARK mission started about five years ago when our youth returned from a mission trip to the Washington, D.C. area to serve the homeless there and asked, “Why can’t we do this at home?”
Then they did it.
The ARK, a customized trailer manned by volunteers, now serves more than 120 hot meals each Sunday and distributes adult T-shirts, jeans, shorts and other clothing during the summer, and sweats, hoodies, jackets and jeans during the winter.
We are grateful we have been able to do this.
Now it is time to go to areas of Sanford and Lee County we have been unable to serve in the past. We have a second ARK almost ready to put into action, but we need additional volunteers to work alongside our current mission leaders to prepare meals and take the trailer out to where our homeless friends are.
We currently have two teams. One that plan, shop for, and cook the meals. One team that pack the meals and deliver those and other items into the community. Cooking teams are at the church on Sundays from 12:30 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., and the packing/delivery teams usually arrive around 1:45, take the trailer out and return to the church between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.
We hope to get the second ARK on the road by October.
If you would like to help, feel a calling, or just want to come and see what this mission looks like, please text Kim Osborne at 919-545-4838 with your name and area of interest. If you are unable to help right now, we would appreciate your prayers for the ARK, its volunteers and the people it serves.