Repairers of the Breach

by Rev. Dr. Amanda Riley

On the last Wednesday in October, a flurry of emails and text messages began. Everyone was trying to figure out what to do if the Nationwide SNAP program with distribution set for Saturday, November 1, was paused. This has never happened before in the eighty-six-year history of food aid in our nation. This had, however, certainly been a fear in previous government shutdowns. By Friday, we were hearing directly from CalFresh (the California name for federal SNAP dollars) recipients that the portal where their benefits are tracked stated that benefits would be delayed, and the same was said when people called the program directly. On Sunday, at The Garden Church’s weekly worship, we heard again and again about the anxiety of not having the EBT cards (the debit card for SNAP funds) replenished on November 1, and with no end in sight, those at our Sunday meal asked for to-go bags of snack-style foods. We encouraged people to take two.

In moments like this, moments of uncertainty and asking, “What can be done?” and “What can I do?” Passages of scripture come to mind. From Isaiah, we read:

“If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your needs in parched places and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail. Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.” —Isaiah 58:9–12

And from the Gospel of Matthew:

“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. ” —Matthew 25:35–3

At the Garden Church, we seek to be repairers of the breach and to give food to anyone who is hungry. To this end, the Garden Church board decided to make $3,000 of our church reserves available at this moment to meet the needs we see each Sunday. These funds went to purchase forty grocery gift cards to local stores, costing $75 each. This is about the amount of food assistance an individual adult would receive on CalFresh/SNAP in our area for one week. The gift cards were distributed to grateful families and individuals.

If you or your community is feeling called to step in and repair the breach, here are some simple suggestions.
1) Prayerfully discern and identify what you feel called to address.
2) Learn what organizations in your area already do this work or something similar. 
3) Contact them and ask what would help them further their mission or meet the needs they seek to address.
4) Discern how you or your community can meet that need.

Example: 
1. Food insecurity
2. Contact food pantries, food banks, and meal programs.
3. Learn that there is a need for non-perishable food items and volunteers to pick up produce from local grocery stores and transport it to the food pantry. Also learn that while donated canned goods from individuals are appreciated, the food pantry has the ability to buy in bulk and get items at lower prices than an individual would pay for retail. 
4. Decide that the community will first, collect funds to support the pantry, and second, recruit volunteers to pick up produce at the local grocery store and bring it to the pantry twice a week.

When seeking to help, the most important thing we can do is ask what would be helpful. The Lord shows up, meeting us in our humility and guiding us towards a life of useful service.

Read the full issue of the November/December Messenger