Serve Up!

This past week, 74 students from InterVarsity chapters at the University of New Hampshire, Bridgewater State, Bryant University, and Connecticut College traveled by bus to spend their Spring break working with several microchurches of the Underground Network. Here at The Well, they put a lot of muscle and determination into transforming our food pantry into what looks a lot more like a grocery store. Under the supervision of Luke of the Timothy Initiative, they moved everything out, ripped up carpet, painted the walls, ceiling, and floor, and cut out expanded doors and even a food-service window, and put it all back together again. It looks beautiful, and we are grateful to be blessed by a group that could have been soaking up the sun all week, but chose this instead. Crazy kids. Who does that? To come to Florida for Spring break, only to spend the week volunteering? That kind of crazy fits in well around here.

And their work has made a difference around here. We have taken to calling our food pantry the Free Market, because we want to emulate the experience that one normally gets when paying for things, but at no cost to the shopper. All of the improvements made to The Well make the shopper's experience smoother, and they help to convey the idea that someone prepared all of this for you. We take for granted that we are valued enough by our grocery stores for them to make the store an attractive and convenient place to shop. For those who cannot afford to shop at those same stores, acquiring food is not always a pleasant and affirming experience. With help from InterVarsity's Serve Up team, we have space for more food and a better environment for people to shop in. 

Because of their sacrifice of a Spring break's worth of beach partying, we are better able to exercise compassion and convey dignity to our neighbors. Thanks for that, guys. It really means the world to us.