I did it! I stepped out and volunteered my time and energy to help prepare food for the weekly giveaway at Tricounty Family Ministries. Along with sandwiches, fresh vegetables, and fruit, TFM will give out pantry food, hygiene kits, and freshly prepared chicken. My job today: prepping peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to be given out tomorrow! Could there be a better job for a mother of three boys than prepping PB&Js?

Something I want to share today is how I was touched by the other volunteers I get to serve with at TFM. As always it was great to be lifted up by the act of serving others––it never fails to do the spirit and heart good. Another part of the joy of volunteering is witnessing people give their time, talent, heart, and energy to others. As always, we strike up conversations and I learn about amazing people. Every volunteer has a story of why they volunteer or how they found TFM. Each person is special.

Today there was a volunteer who had been a bartender at Leon’s on King St. (ironically my favorite place to dine out in Charleston), but since COVID-19, she has lost that job. She shared with me that she had called five places in town about donating food to TFM, and GrowFood Carolina, a local food hub, had responded with a yes! Thanks, GrowFood Carolina! She picked up an entire pallet of fresh fruits and vegetables in her sedan and brought it to TFM this morning to pack and have distributed for tomorrow. Time, energy, sacrifice––this is work and she did it. I asked if she would be returning to her restaurant job when the time was right, and she shared that she does not know. Her heart has changed in these past months and she has found friends that she may never have found living the life she had “before." She was not sugar-coating this experience. As we both said, today is positive, and tomorrow ... perhaps tears. But she had a twinkle, a joy, a heart for service to others, and I was blessed to witness her love and compassion. You see, I was filled up serving beside her. I find the love and compassion to be contagious, which is why I keep going back to serve and to be fed with the Holy Spirit by these experiences like I had today.

So friends, as a member of the Home Missions Team at St. Philip's, I feel a certain responsibility to research, check out, and experience firsthand the mission opportunities that we try to identify and offer to our congregation. Volunteering today, May 5th, at Tricounty Family Ministries was a safe and joyful blessing in my life.

I hope you will take the step to offer your gifts of time and energy to those in need. The Signup Genius app for Tricounty Family Ministries is easy to use, and they allow anyone 14 years or older to volunteer. TFM is also going to explore offering giveaways on Saturdays so those that work during the week can have an opportunity to serve or be served. 

Sign up at the links below, and please don't hesitate to reach out to me with questions: ameywarder@hotmail.com or (843) 452-9742.