Barnabas Community: A Pandemic Success Story
Barnabas Community: A Pandemic Success Story
Barnabas Community, an outreach ministry birthed from Sheridan in 2008, learned to adapt during the pandemic. Like everyone else, when infection rates started rising and our community made adjustments for public safety, Barnabas made adjustments to keep staff and volunteers safe, all while continuing to provide three meals a week, maintain weekly worship and keep the free store operational.
Countless Sheridan friends and families continued robust support during this time. Without your support, outreach to those in need in Lincoln would have waned.
The free store remained operational throughout the pandemic, and like in
other shopping venues, the number of guests tapered off a bit as many people stayed home to stay safe. However, the meal ministry grew. They increased their serving from 837 meals served in the month of April 2020 to 1,269 meals served in April 2021. One way they knew they could reach a need during this time was by providing meals to go. The meal ministry team got creative, and by combining funds from Sheridan and the Lincoln Community Health Endowment, was able to purchase to-go containers and increase meal production.
As you remember during the pandemic, errand running was often limited to one person in a family in order to reduce the spread of infection. The same was the experience for our Barnabas friends. One person would pick up to-go meals for an entire family. 6-7 meals were often sent home with one guest. Each week this was a big gift for them! Thank you for your support of Barnabas and their meal ministry!
Recently Barnabas started opening up the dining room during meals with limited seating. It’s been a joy for people to eat together again! We are also happy to announce that an anonymous donor from Sheridan provided funding for Barnabas to hire a new Meal Ministry Coordinator, Linda Sabo. Linda is a member of Sheridan and has a gift for making great food! Welcome, Linda!
If you would like to support the meal ministry at Barnabas, you can give to Sheridan and designate your gift to Barnabas Meal Ministry. If you’d like to support the general operations of Barnabas Community and keep the ministry going strong, you can give to Sheridan and designate your gift to Barnabas Community.
In August’s edition of the Scroll we will give updates on the worshiping community at Barnabas. Stay tuned to learn about how we share God’s love through worship at Barnabas Community!
Serve at Barnabas: Free Store Volunteers Needed
Barnabas needs volunteers to help with the check out process, being hospitable to guests and working as a team with other volunteers and staff. Contact director@barnabascommunity.org if you are interested in helping.