Al's Outreach Outtakes

There is lots of activity going on at the Food Closet these days outside of our normal food distribution efforts. I thought I would share some updates with you.
 
First, many of you know that the Food Closet is a portable building that we bought used multiple years ago. Over the years the space has been modified to support the growth that the ministry has gone through. The structure serves us well.

One key part of it, however, was getting pretty tired and that is our heating and air condition system. When it gets really warm, the system works extra hard to try and keep up with the heat all of our refrigerators and freezers generate. Most of the time it succeeds. On more than one (or two or three) occasions it can’t get the job done. When that happens the unit literally turns into a block of ice.

I have turned it off and thawed it multiple times with technicians coming to take a look. Each time they could find nothing significant other than age. After much debate, we decided it was time to replace it before it gave up completely. Fortunately that was completed right before the heat spell set it. Truly grateful for that!


The second set of changes has to do with the other spectrum of weather, winter and the associated rains. As you may have read in previous columns, due to COVID-19, we have had to move our serving to the outdoors. While it has been a relatively easy transition during the spring and summer months, standing out in the cold and rain for four hours at a time was more than I could ask even the most hardy of volunteers to consider.

Putting an overhang over the front of the garage door and adding a shed for others to serve out of should address the most critical needs. While it will not be the same as working inside, most should be relatively dry and warm as we continue serving the families who come to us in need of food. We hope to have all of these changes in place by mid-October.


As always, I thank you for your support. None of these changes could have been implemented without your on-going generosity. THANK YOU!