Loaves and Fish: Kindness Goes a Long Way

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By Jill Showers-Chow, member of Christ Church Cathedral, Mobile

At Christ Church Cathedral, the Loaves and Fish ministry, led by Deacon Pratt Paterson, provides food, hygiene products, and other necessities for the Blessing Box on Church Street. Parishioners donate these essentials to help neighbors experiencing food insecurity meet their daily needs.

The ministry has also begun addressing a significant need among students at Bishop State Community College through a weekly feeding program. Each Sunday before church, volunteers gather in the kitchen to prepare 100 sack lunches for students.

But this ministry is about more than making sandwiches.

As we prepare meals together, we fellowship with one another, strengthen relationships, and get to know the people serving alongside us. Most importantly, this work offers another opportunity to extend the ministry of Christ Church Cathedral beyond its walls and into the community we love.

Recently, I experienced firsthand just how much a simple act of kindness can mean.

One Sunday morning, I was placing food in our Blessing Box when a gentleman from the community approached me. He thanked me for what the church was doing and shared that he had fallen on hard times. Although he had found a few odd jobs here and there, he explained that the food in our Blessing Box was often what helped him get by.

He told me about some of the items he especially appreciated: SpaghettiOs, crackers, protein bars, and other filling foods. Then he said something I will never forget:

“Ma'am, what makes me happy is knowing that someone cares.”

He showed me his backpack and some of the things he carries with him every day. As he talked, I continued filling the box, occasionally looking back at him, smiling and listening.

Before leaving, he asked how much longer I would be there. I told him about an hour, since church was about to begin.

He replied, “After church, come back to the box. I will have a surprise for you. It won't be much, but I want you to know that I appreciate what the church is doing.”

Of course, I became a little curious.

I went inside for worship, spent some time visiting with others afterward, and eventually made my way back to the Blessing Box.

Inside was a small brown McDonald's bag.

I opened it.

Inside was an apple pie.

I smiled and looked around. Across the way, he was sitting on a park bench, waving at me.

All I could do was smile and wave back.

Here was someone who had very little, yet he wanted to give something in return. That apple pie was so much more than an apple pie. It was gratitude. It was generosity. It was dignity. It was one human being saying to another, I see you, too.

Sometimes ministry happens inside the church. Sometimes it happens while preparing 100 sack lunches. And sometimes it happens beside a Blessing Box on Church Street, through a conversation between two people and a warm apple pie tucked inside a brown paper bag.

Kindness goes a long way. And sometimes the smallest gifts remind us why we serve.

“People who are homeless are not social inadequates. They are people without homes.” - Sheila McKechnie