Winston Salem Times

Journey Church has been providing occasional meals to help the hungry at its building for years, but the pastor wanted to do more.

In another of its outreach programs, where the church was working at an elementary school, pastor Matt Leonard saw how far-reaching the need was in the Lexington area. 

“We started to see, working with Picket Elementary, there were kids there that were hungry, we would get their stories of them coming to school and not having had meals,” Leonard said in a WGHP report. 

Now, after years of planning, the Loaves & Fish truck has hit the road. It has an ambitious goal, of reaching more than 5,000 people who wouldn’t otherwise get the food they need.

“I think that’s our heart, to feed as many people as we possibly can,” Journey Church volunteer Jennifer Swift said in the report.

Its next drive is set for Wednesday, when graduating fifth graders at Pickett Elementary will be the target crowd, the church’s website said. 

Serving holiday meals at the church just wasn’t reaching all those who could be helped, Leonard said.

“There are hungry people who can’t get to where we are, we’re going to take the food to them." 

The mobile ministry food truck started by catering to children at schools, providing lunch to children at Lexington High and Middle School, where the volunteers handed out more than 900 hot dogs during a 35-minute time frame.

“Just seeing them light up because of that, it makes it all worth it, it really pushes us forward, it gives us passion to continue to find opportunities and to continue to reach,” Leonard said.

The goal is to give the children the food free, Swift said, adding, “Our goal is to never charge anyone for a meal out of this food truck, we really feel like we are here to serve so we don’t want to ever charge."

With the school year coming to an end soon, Journey Church is looking to partner with other Davidson County area groups, besides schools, so they can keep up the service.

“The need is great, and I think it’s perfect timing we have the food truck running and operational now,” Swift said. “If we receive a call, we will go."

Ultimately, Leonard said he’d like to have the truck out five or six days a week in the future. And adding to the fleet isn’t out of the picture, but that would happen further down the road.

For more information, or to donate time or money, visit http://thejourney.church/.