Contributed by Andi Nations
Five Loaves Two Fish Kitchen Ministries
at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, 501 E. Bogard Road, Wasilla
Saturday, December 1, 2018, serving 9:00-12:00
Santa Claus will be available 10:00-11:30 AM, bring your camera for photos!
Fundraiser: $12.00 per person or $30 for 3 or more
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, a congregation of the Alaska Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, has been growing and serving the Matanuska-Susitna Valley since 1978. Good Shepherd has always placed a strong emphasis on openly embracing and serving all people in the Valley, and in 2013, the congregation recognized the growing incidence of poverty, homelessness and hunger across our neighbors. To address this need, in June of 2013, Good Shepherd was awarded a grant from the Mat-Su Health Foundation to remodel their kitchen facilities, and bring them up to permitted/approved grade standards required by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Over the next year, Good Shepherd volunteers contributed countless hours, alongside of hired contractors, to complete this massive project. In the spring of 2014, Good Shepherd began preparing meals for homeless youth, and also opened the new Kitchen for use by partner organizations.
After operating for four years, today Good Shepherd’s Kitchen Ministry provides weekly meals for the clients of three partner agencies: clients of the MyHouse Homeless Teens Resource Center, Family Promise, and Knik House. The church houses the Mat-Su Borough School District’s Next Step Program, whose developmentally disabled students then learn skills for self-survival in Good Shepherd’s kitchen. The Kitchen Ministry also offers meals to families within our church, who are experiencing temporary crisis.
Financial support has come, in the past, from grants from Mat-Su Health Foundation, our Local Alaska Synod, Wal-Mart, American Seafood Company, Three Bears Groceries, and Matanuska Electric Association’s Charitable Foundation, contributions from Brown’s Electric and Soloy Helicopters, and weekly donations of food from Carr’s/Safeway and the Mat-Su Food Pantry. Although Good Shepherd’s congregation continues to provide generous financial support, the members of the church’s Kitchen Committee are continually pursuing fundraising and grant opportunities.
On December 1, 2018, Good Shepherd’s Five Loaves Two Fish Kitchen Ministry will be hosting a Holiday Pancake Breakfast from 9:00 until 12:00 noon at the church. Along with delicious breakfast items, there will also be festive music, children’s activities, and a visit from Santa from 10:00 until 11:30. Members of the public are encouraged to support this important work by dropping by for a festive breakfast, before beginning their day of holiday shopping!
