Carts of food in the fellowship ready to distribute to clients. Photos courtesy of Faith UMC.

For the last ten years, Faith United Methodist Church in Fargo, North Dakota, has been feeding its neighbors. Deb Laber is coordinating the food ministry in partnership with Great Plains Food Bank of North Dakota.

“It is a special mission for our community. It makes me feel so good that we can do it,” says Laber. “The clients are so thankful that we are doing it. It is just a great experience.”   

On the first and third Fridays of each month, Faith UMC gets food delivered to the church by Great Plains Food Bank. Volunteers at the church sort and bag the food in the Fellowship Hall. The bags are then placed in shopping carts. Clients pre-register to come to the church on Friday and get food. When Friday arrives, clients drive up to get a shopping cart filled with a minimum of 100 lbs. of food in bags.

The clients take the shopping cart of food to their car. They unload the food and return the shopping cart. Faith UMC volunteers sanitize the cart and fill it with bags of food for the next client. Eight carts cycle through the process until all of the food is gone.

Laber syas, “We partner with the Great Plains Food Bank. We meet their requirements for food handling and food safety. We make sure our facility is clean, and the temperatures are correct. We do a lot of work to provide a safe environment for our clients. “

A leadership team manages Fargo Faith Food Ministry. Deb Laber is the record keeper and the liaison with the church. Cynthia Mohr coordinates the setup and volunteers. Roger Moen coordinates the food delivery.  

Volunteers working to make the food distribution happen.

There are 80-100 clients that receive food at each distribution. Every client gets the same amount of food. It takes 12-15 volunteers for the entire process. Preparation for the distribution starts at 7 a.m. when the truck arrives. The day ends at 4 p.m. when the distribution and clean-up are complete.

“For April, we distributed 16,000 lbs. of food. The church provides the space to serve the food, carts, bags. The congregation is so supportive, providing two freezers, a refrigerator," Laber says.

Clients learn about food distribution through Facebook, Great Plains Food Bank, and word of mouth. The recipients like the variety of food that they receive from the Faith UMC Food Ministry. Bags in the shopping carts include bread, produce, meat, dairy products, and canned goods.

“Our goal is to give clients food that we would want to put in our cupboards. If we would not eat it, we will not give it away,” says Deb. “We are proud of the quality and variety of food that we give away.”

In 2020, Faith UMC in Fargo, North Dakota, was awarded Agency of the Year for their food ministry. The Great Plains Food Bank awarded the distinction based on comments from clients that are collected. The Great Plains Food Bank serves 53 counties throughout North Dakota and Clay County, Minnesota. Faith UMC was one of three agencies recognized for their work to fight hunger.

Many of the volunteers are members of Faith UMC, but some organizations like Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota and sometimes a bank will volunteer for Faith Food Ministry.

The Faith Food Ministry hopes to partner with North Dakota State University and North High School in Fargo in the future. Laber says, “We hope to find some volunteers and also put the word out for clients at NDSU and North High.”

“We will do whatever it takes,” says Laber. “My background is food service. I am comfortable in this field. It is fun. We have a great group of people.”

Great Plains Food Bank is one of the recipients of the 2021 Miracle Offering: Feeding the Dakotas. Great Plains Food Bank plans to match the funds of the Dakotas Conference gift. Our goal for the 2021 Miracle Offering is $75,000 to be shared with the Great Plains Food Bank in North Dakota, Feeding South Dakota, and grants to local hunger ministries. If we give $25,000 to the Great Plains Food Bank, they will match that gift with $25,000 from key donors. 

Learn more about the Great Plains Food Bank in the 2020 Annual Report and in this video, “Who We Help.”

Access resource for the 2021 Miracle Offering