A close up of a plate

Help prepare sack lunches for the homeless this week

Hear ye! Hear ye!

Calling all Esperanza chefs, volunteers, those able to assemble or serve sandwiches and those wishing to donate either money or non-perishables to the cause!

Our Hunger Ministry reaches out to Downtown Phoenix by providing sack lunches for the homeless at Grace Lutheran Church next week, on Wednesday, July 13, and your help is most welcome.

If that day does not work for you, please consider assisting us with our next sack lunch on Wednesday, July 20. For details, click here!

Sack lunches consist of:

  • One sandwich — Ham, turkey, tuna, roast beef with cheese (no condiments).
  • Granola bar or similar.
  • Fruit — Purchased cups, bananas or pre-packaged sliced fruit. Please be mindful of the poor dental health of many of our guests and ensure that fruit items are soft.
  • Drinks — Bottled water, Capri Sun-type products, Gatorade or juice in gallon containers that can be poured into cups.

We again anticipate serving a minimum of 100 guests. After next week’s meal we’ll have a more accurate number. Grace Lutheran provides all plates, cups, silverware and condiments.

If you wish to help assemble the sack lunches, please meet us at the church at 8 a.m. Wednesday, July 13, or 8 a.m. Wednesday, July 20.  We will provide the items needed to assemble the sack lunch.

If you would like to join us in serving and cleaning up at Grace Lutheran, we will be leaving Esperanza by 10:30 a.m.  Lunch service begins at 12:30. Clean-up is after and would likely require you to remain at Grace Lutheran until approximately 2 p.m.

For those who would prefer to assemble sack lunches at home for either or both dates (July 13 and 20), we would ask that you prepare a minimum of 10 sack lunches and deliver them to the church no later than 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 13, or Wednesday, July 20.

Items that can be donated or collected prior to the lunch service are:

  •           Lunch bags.
  •           Cases/packages of bottled water.
  •           Juice boxes/Capri Sun boxes.
  •           Fruit cups – Mandarin oranges, applesauce, fruit cocktail, peaches.
  •           Nutri Grain bars or similar.

If you can provide these non-perishable items, please deliver to kitchen/Fellowship Hall by July 10 or July 17 and designate them “For Heat Respite.”

We are arranging lots of folks and lots of food, so please let us know how, when and if you can help as soon as possible. My cellphone is 310-502-7930 and my email is [email protected]. Feel free to call, text or email and thank you for stepping up yet again!

We will also be looking for volunteers and donations for our final lunch of the summer on Wednesday, Aug. 17, as well!

If you would like to learn more about Grace Lutheran’s Heat Respite Program, please click here!