“Here to Serve” of Tuscaloosa, Ala., joined forces with Destination Church and DC Downtown Ministries to offer meals to the Waycross community Wednesday-Thursday, October 2-3.
Wednesday evening they distributed 440 meals and more than 1,000 Thursday evening.
Michael Anderson, Cecil Ozment, Steve Stephens and Billy Falls are full-time business owners who give time and money to travel throughout the south feeding hurricane victims.
The quartet was able to mobilize because of a special gift.
“Dr. Hiram Johnson started ‘Here to Serve’ 20 or more years ago,” says Anderson. “He’s 83 and not able to do this any longer. He’s our spiritual mentor and we inherited this from him.
“I got a call from Dr. Johnson. He informed me he had a mobile kitchen and a truck. It’s a $150,000 rig that was unused, and if we could use it, we could have it.
“Steve and I, when Hurricane Sally was making landfall in south Alabama (September 16, 2020), wanted to find a way to help people affected by the storm,” added Anderson.
Stephens agrees. “When Sally was coming to the Gulf Coast, we wanted to help so we thought, ‘Let’s get some food and go down there and see if we can help first responders or whoever, and we wound up at a church,’” he said. “We wound up feeding the members of the church, the community, the first responders, everybody.
“It was ridiculous the blessings we got. God saw fit to give us another blessing in two weeks, another storm in Lake Charles, La. and two weeks later we had another storm in Selma (Ala.).”
“Here to Serve” is a non-profit which operates completely on charitable donations.
“This trip will probably cost us $30,000. To store our equipment is $12,000 a year,” said Stephens.
“We need to have $25,000 a year before we even take one hurricane trip,” added Anderson. “That’s maintenance, storage, all the different things you have to have and that’s before you buy food. We usually try to plan for two storms a year.” Hurricane season in the southeast United States runs from June 1 through November.
“We start cooking probably in May,” says Ozment. “We have a commercial vacuum sealer. We cook and smoke and do Boston butts and use the vacuum sealer.”
Thursday evening’s food included smoked chicken with white sauce barbecue sauce, coleslaw and baked beans.
“Our goal has always been to give people a good quality meal,” said Stephens, “not just food — to give them a real meal that says, ‘I love you.’” “Here to Serve” was volunteering in Jasper, Fla., before coming to Waycross. When Jasper’s power was restored, the organization had three days of food remaining.
They began reaching out to find another area where they could be of service. They were connected with Pastor Rodney Thrift of Destination Church, who told him the need was great in Waycross.
While at DC, “Here to Serve” was assisted by community volunteers and members of both the DC’s youth and young adult groups, as well as youth group members of Second Baptist Church.
The Alabama men say “Here to Serve” is among the most meaningful things they do.
“This is the hardest job I’ve ever had, but the most fun and most rewarding thing I’ve ever done,” Ozment says.
Steve Stephens mans the grills to help serve more than 1,000 hot meals Thursday, October 3 at DC Downtown Ministries Photo By EJ POND
