The bad news is tough to miss. Our social media, television screen, and morning paper are full of it on a daily basis. The good news is tougher to find. But it is there.
On this latest edition, we find a story of hope, redemption, and changed lives. We meet two remarkable people who have stepped out in faith to feed hungry people in the metro of Minneapolis – Saint Paul.
This faith-based outreach is marshaling volunteers, making thousands of sandwiches, and sharing them with those who are going hungry. Kylie Benson and Kaylyn Knopp are the driving forces behind Serenity Sandwiches. Kylie explains how he first realized this was something he wanted to do.
“One of my duties at my job was to get rid of bread that had been there, but was not necessarily even a day old yet. Within days of returning from Haiti, I had this new conviction that this bread could be better used. It was not supposed to be going in the garbage can.”
“So I took this bread and I decided we’re going to make some sandwiches, but what does that look like? I approached Pastor Jeff at Serenity Village and threw out the idea to him and said, ‘I want to put together some sandwiches. I feel led by God. I feel convicted. And I feel like he’s called me to repurpose this into something for his people.'”
“He immediately said, ‘You know what? It’s been on my heart, and I’ve been searching for an outreach for our church to grow our effectiveness.’ Just as God does – He just met two things together. He came alongside me and Serenity Sandwiches was born.”
Kylie thinks back to their initial sandwich preparation sessions.
“We had no idea what we were doing, but we had faith in God. So we want ahead and took that bread, and we ]got some deli sliced meat and spent way too much money the very first time.”
From those first steps, the ministry has seen stunning growth.
“The first year we put together 50,000 sandwiches. We will do over 125,000 sandwiches this year, along with somewhere in the area of 50,000 cups of soup. God just never ceases to amaze us with what He makes available, and it’s a lot of fun for us all.”
