Building the food pantry

We have been envisioning the Mustard Seed Ministry food pantry for a while now.  I think we were in Los Angeles staying at a county park on the beach directly underneath LAX when the Lord gave us a vision of what MSM was supposed to look like when we returned to Hubbard, Oregon.  A simple food pantry was one component.  Not one where the poor traversed public transit, were given a number and waited in line to get a prescribed bag of canned foods, but one where people from the neighborhood can come and hang out, get specifically what they need and in the right season can even get fresh corn, strawberries, tomatoes and other fresh produce grown from people’s own backyard gardens.  We would not have a layer of service that separated us from the poor, but rather we would have the opportunity to commune and build relationship with people who live around the corner.  This is our heart.

This past weekend, despite coming down with H1N1, I, along side Paul Morse, a member of Tigard Community Friends Church just up the road in Tigard, Oregon, began the process of framing, putting up drywall and shelving an 8′ X 16′ space in our garage.  It came together very nicely and I didn’t vomit on Paul once (that would have been nice, build a brand new food pantry and the first thing I do is throw up all my groceries in it 🙂  Next weekend I plan to mud and tape the drywall and then soon after my plan is to put up shelving.

a before shot

Paul (the journeyman)

done with the framing

now time for the drywall

Andy (the apprentice)

Just enough room for us to park The Werewolf (or VW Vanagon) with the food pantry on the right

and Avery approves