Feeding the poor in Belfast

A church in South Belfast sets up a project designed to help feed poor families in the city.

19 March 2009

 STOREHOUSE  

"If people care enough to do this for me, then maybe I am worth caring about…"  The words of a woman in Belfast who was handed a free hamper of groceries - all thanks to the kindness of random strangers she will never meet.   She's one of 2,400 people across the city who have benefited in the last year from one church's vision that no-one in Belfast should go hungry.  

Storehouse, as the initiative has become known, is spearheaded by Belfast City Vineyard.  It all began through a church visit to the US in 2007 when they saw a similar programme in action.  "It really broke our hearts," says associate pastor Alan Carson, "We watched them just throw open the doors and people came to get fed."  So from that seed of a vision, a Storehouse venture was launched in Belfast in March last year.   And it was day of double significance for the associate pastor… "We launched Storehouse on the day my son was born – so I like to say both of my babies were born on the same day."              

The project depends on individuals and families from the church purchasing extra groceries each week and keeping the storehouse well stocked.  It's all done through local charities – 15 are now on board -  who pass the food on to the families in Belfast who are most in need.  "We never meet the people," as Alan explains. "But we just think it's the heart of Jesus that no-one in the greater Belfast area should go hungry.  We had just heard too many stories of people having to choose between heating and food.  And when I read the Bible I almost think God is bias towards the poor.              

But now Vineyard are seeking to move the project to the next level, as Alan explains: "We'd been limited by our office before, we couldn't bring in food in bulk but we prayed a lot and asked a lot – and a Christian businessman approached us to say he had a free warehouse we could use.  This gives us the space to grow and the chance to take it to the next level.  I guess my heart would be that we wouldn't need big corporations in this, that the Church in Belfast would be the Church.  But at every stage God has provided beyond what we could imagine."              

And the stats really do speak for themselves – 2,400 people fed through the project since its inception, that's 530 families provided for - and 9 tonnes of food shifted!  Other churches have joined with Vineyard in this project, but they're keen to see even more people on board.  Alan says it's a need that is on our door-steps: "We're comfortable with sending aid to Africa, but while people here in Belfast may not be dying of poverty some of them are certainly not living."