From Aaron Scott, Diocesan Missioner for Anti-Poverty Organizing and Chaplain and Organizer with Chaplains on the Harbor:
Dear friends and family in Christ,
It’s the end of the world and here we are fundraising for… a food truck.
A food truck?!
Like us, it’s neither fireproof nor bulletproof. But as hunger, homelessness, and displacement explode across our parish, we are faced with the clear need to make our ministry at Chaplains on the Harbor more mobile than ever.
So much has happened in a year: we got the keys to our new farmhouse and 23 acres just as the COVID-19 pandemic sent the nation into lockdown. We tilled, planted, and watered as the country erupted in protests against police brutality and white supremacist violence. In June we were confronted by armed militia in the streets of downtown Aberdeen while peacefully marching and memorializing our local loved ones who died at the hands of law enforcement – and after the demonstration immediately got back to work serving hot meals to our congregation on the streets, like we do every Sunday.
Growing food, feeding hungry people, and raising up leaders who both work toward their own healing as well as serve and heal our whole community continues to be our bedrock through this upheaval. This coming year, we will hire a new round of apprentices at Harbor Roots Farm, developing their leadership as they stabilize in their recovery from addiction, incarceration, and/or homelessness. We will expand our shelter season to be open every night through the cold weather. And, we will take our feeding program on the road. Between the increasing sweeps and displacement of our homeless sisters and brothers, and the huge spike in hunger faced by families with school-age children, we need to be reaching more people than our current locations allow. A food truck will allow us to serve hungry neighborhoods across Grays Harbor County, with free meals as well as with relationships, pastoral care, and organizing. And, on our ministry’s off days, we can use a food truck for commercial sales (at the county fair, at Convention, and beyond) to generate income for our program.
As bleak as the news can be day after day, we have been able to root down in real world hope day in and day out: harvesting food, supporting young leaders in recovery, staying connected to our wider movement family in the Poor People’s Campaign, and planning our collective long-haul survival – no matter what comes. Can you support us on this journey?
We are so grateful for each of you!
Blessings,
The Chaplains on the Harbor Team
