From Mobile Loaves And Fishes

Mobile Loaves & Fishes has started the summer off with a bang! This month we celebrated ONE YEAR of serving meals in Nashville. Thanks to each and every one of you for making this dream a reality. As of today we have delivered 19,150 meals to the homeless and working poor of our community. This is absolutely incredible. Our goal for the 2008-2009 year is to increase this number to 40,000 meals. We realize that this is a huge number, but we are confident that it can and will happen. We are currently raising the funds necessary to sustain a second truck which will allow us to greatly increase the number of meals that we are able to serve and expand the geographic area in which we currently serve.



This summer has seen a few new things for MLF. For starters, we have started rolling out a plan to serve breakfast. Currently we have a few teams trying it out on the weekends, but as we continue to see success we will integrate this more regularly throughout the week as this is a much needed service. Additionally, we have had a lot of young children counted amongst our volunteer forces lately. Children as young as 18 months have been helping to bag cookies, make sandwiches and load the truck in recent weeks. This truly shows that there is something for everyone to do at MLF. As five year old philosopher and MLF volunteer Gus puts it, “The surest way to help yourself is to help another person.” This summer we were also excited to receive and distribute over 2,500 clothing items from the students of Belmont University’s Greek Life. They collected, sorted and bagged these items for MLF as part of their outreach efforts.



Did you know that Mobile Loaves & Fishes has a United Way of Metropolitan Nashville designation code? You may choose to designate gifts to MLF using code # 1239 and be sure to indicate Mobile Loaves and Fishes.



Get involved this summer. There are still a few open days on our calendar. If you are interested in putting together a team to prepare or deliver food on a Friday night or any time we have a “fifth week” of the month please let me know. I may be able to find a spot for you.



How can you help Mobile Loaves & Fishes? Here are a few quick suggestions:

1. Spread the word. Send this email to a couple of friends. Invite some co-workers on your next truck run.
2. Organize a collection. The homeless desperately need large and x-large sized t-shirts and shorts, socks, and toiletries (travel sized). MLF could use help with bottled water, baggies and snack food. Call the office for suggestions on a drive that you could organize.
3. Spend some extra time volunteering. Bring your kids by the office to make sandwiches, bag cookies, or work in the clothing room.
4. Assist MLF financially. You can mail a check or give online at www.mlfnow.org. (Be sure to designate Nashville.)



Housekeeping item: If you have not logged into your MLF volunteer profile and updated your address and phone number, please do so as soon as possible. MLF headquarters will be deleting volunteers with incomplete profiles. If you are deleted you will not receive your shift reminders, newsletters or other important MLF information. If you do not know how to log into your profile, simply reply to this message with your contact information and I’ll update the profile for you and send you your log in information again.



Thank you again for your commitment to MLF. We appreciate your hard work and dedication to helping those less fortunate in our city. With each meal we serve we are truly making a difference.



Sara A. Hylton

Program Director

Mobile Loaves & Fishes – Nashville

P.O. Box 40347

Nashville, TN 37204

Phone: 615-460-0172

Cell: 615-944-3115

shylton@mlfnashville.org

www.mlfnow.org