Thursday, July 5, 2012

Canned goods at Tiffany, or, How to Raise Half a Ton of Food in Your Jewelry Store

I ended up running into a variety of folks from St. Timothy's church on the south side of Indianapolis today. St. Timothy's is one of those parishes that has at times been on the edge, much like my beloved All Saints.

To a person, they all said to me how they responded to their financial difficulties by becoming more outward looking and focusing on the needs of their community. St. Timothy's is located in one of those areas where if you just drove through, you wouldn't really think there'd be a need for a food pantry. But as is increasingly the case in suburban America, hunger is a real issue, and St. Timothy's has found demand for their outreach ministries, serving 102 families totalling 270 people in May.

And parishioners are using this ministry to get the word out about their church. I spoke with Judy Champa, who was volunteering at the information desk today. She and her husband own Heirloom Classics, a bead and jewelry store in the Fountain Square neighborhood. To stock the pantry, she puts on a contest where her customers can vote for their favorite custom jewelry creation. But the ballots take the form of canned goods.

Over the two years Judy's been doing this, she's brought in 1,682 pounds of food to feed her community. Judy characterized St. Timothy's as a parish full of pit bulls. Sounds like these pit bulls have read Acts 8.

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