Local outreach ministry on a mission to feed the hungry, reaches major milestone

SAN ANTONIO — The St. Francis of Assisi Mobile Loaves & Fishes just recently reached a major milestone. The ministry just marked serving one million meals. Every day, volunteers serve food across San Antonio.

The kitchen located at the Catholic church, off De Zavala Road, is a well-oiled machine. Some of the volunteers include Julie Mellin, Peggy Carney and Tim Coyle.

"Right now, we are serving a little over 8,000 meals a week," Mellin said. "So, we are on pace to do a 100,000 this year."

For 17-years, the chapter at the catholic church has been serving San Antonio. It is based off of Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a Christian social outreach ministry in Austin.

"We are sent to these places where they need us," Mellin said. "The need in San Antonio, it never stops."

The ministry is made up of 250 volunteers who sometimes even twice a day prepare meals for lunch and dinner.

"Think about the boy that provided Jesus with the loaves and fishes and fed thousands, that is what we are doing out of this kitchen,“ Mellin said.

The volunteers hand out meals and even clothes with their truck. Mellin said hundreds of other meals are made for different partners across the city.

"In my mind it is just a sack lunch, but to them it is so much more than that," Carney said.

Coyle said the impact is something that resonates with him.

"There were people waiting in line for me to show up," he said. "And when I delivered the meals and I was leaving, I heard 'Thank you,' and 'God bless you.' It felt so good, it hurt."

The volunteers couldn't do this without several partners like the San Antonio Food Bank who help them. Everything they do is all through donations. 

"I would like people out there to know, in the community, it does not matter what your religious background is, but we are all out there trying to serve our neighbor," Mellin said.