Meal Program First Step Toward Homeless Shelter
By Lyndsey Mikeal

“How many meals do you need?” “Do you have any children?” “Here are some juice boxes for you.”

These were the words of volunteers in a program called Food for All.

The program provides warm meals for the needy and homeless.

The Rev. Ronnie Torain and his wife, Minister Sharkita Torain, founded the program as the first step toward the goal of establishing a homeless shelter in Hillsborough.

“We found out that the homeless shelter is just like a big puzzle, and the Food for All program is just like one piece of the puzzle that we need to put together,” Torain said.

The Food for All program begins in the afternoon around 5 p.m. A group prepares anywhere from 50 to 100 meals and packages them in foam containers. The meals are put in a van and taken to two different distribution locations.

When the van arrives around 6:30 p.m., many people are already waiting for their warm meal of the day.

Food for All doesn’t just feed the homeless. Just as their title says, the program feeds anyone. Torain says he would rather feed someone who doesn’t need a free meal than to deny it to someone who is truly hungry.

The program began when the Torains decided it was time for a homeless shelter in Hillsborough. The town doesn’t have an ordinance in place to allow for a shelter, so they petitioned the town board.

In the meantime, the Torains had a meeting with homeless, previously homeless and other community members and asked what they could do while the shelter was being planned.

The answer? Food.

They handed out the first meals in November 2005, and decided to continue the program four days a week, Monday through Thursday.

There are about eight churches that help prepare the meals for the program, and more are joining in the effort.

But churches aren’t the only ones helping. Groups and individuals are invited to help in any way they can, whether it is through volunteering or donating supplies. Students are also encouraged to participate and are offered community service hours in return.

Volunteers of all ages can be seen preparing and handing out the meals.

”We just want to help people who are homeless and hungry,” said 11-year-old Zach Davis, who is also a member of the Boy Scouts.

One Tuesday night, the volunteers prepared 74 warm meals, and provided juice boxes for the children.

All the meals were handed out in 15 minutes…and more were needed.

Reverend Torain says the group started giving out 40 meals—and now the goal is more than 100 meals per night.

He says the program is very successful, and bigger things are yet to come.

”We will continue to work on the road to the shelter, but [the Food For All Program] is just one vehicle that will take us there,” he said.

And with more churches, groups and individuals joining the effort all the time, the group could reach their goal quickly.

For information on how you or your group can get involved with Food for All, contact Rev. Brooks Graebner at St. Matthews Episcopal Church at (919) 732-9308.