BY LAURA DOUGLASS
Insider Staff Writer
Bread, a little meat and cheese, a piece of fruit: these are the basic ingredients for a simple bagged lunch. Every week, dozens of volunteers come together at Our Saviour Lutheran Church to offer support to food insecure individuals and shut-ins in Southern Pines and Robbins through the Matthew 25 ministry. The name is taken from the Bible, Book of Matthew 25-35, “for I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.”
“As a recent transplant to North Carolina, I have found an incredible opportunity through Matthew 25 for both fellowship with like-minded people and the fulfillment of a need of purpose in my new community,” said Debbie Robinson, who was invited to chair the ministry in January. “After much thought and prayer, I was given what I thought was a clear answer to my prayers … serve, a signal word written in a daily devotion. I am so blessed to be a part of this amazing ministry and the group of individuals involved.”
The process begins on Fridays and Sundays, when volunteers pick up donations from Panera Bread and Food Lion. The Monday crew then gets involved by prepping lunch bags and doing preliminary packing, followed by the Tuesday turnout — the sandwich artists — and drivers who deliver meals to the Sandhills/Moore Coalition for Human Care and Tabernacle United Methodist Church in Robbins. The ministry is also supported by volunteer gardeners who tend produce beds at the church.
“It’s a whole church movement, from children to those who are 86 even 96, we are all involved,” said Libby Carter, vice president of the church council and a hands-on volunteer with Matthew 25 for six years.
The ministry was started by Jennifer Karlowicz in January 2015, when the local multi-church Manna project shut down and left a void in the community. Kicking off the earliest efforts were volunteers Amy Hill, Pastor Todd Rauscher, Jim Klug and Jenny Jennings, who delivered 80 lunches weekly to the Robbins area. Over the course of the next three years, Matthew 25 partnered with several Robbins area groups to help provide food to those in need. Some were hot meals, some a can of soup with bread and snack, others a sandwich, chips, apple and dessert. In 2022, as food insecurity became more visible in the southern end of Moore County, Matthew 25 started delivering lunches through the Coalition. Karlowicz passed leadership on to Larry Wolff in 2017, followed by Amy Hill in 2019, and now Roberson.
Today approximately 70 volunteers work together to provide 170 lunches per week. Carter estimates the program’s budget — funded entirely through donations and grants from the NC Lutheran Synod, United Way of Moore County and Moore County Community Foundation, among others — runs around $18,500 annually. That works out to about $2.22 per lunch.
On Sunday, Sept. 29, the church celebrated its 50,000 lunch. Through food, door prizes, a silent auction and raffles, over $2,000 was raised at the event that will go directly to the Matthew 25 ministry.
“I continue to be amazed and humbled by the generosity of Our Saviour’s members,” said Amy Hill, the church council president and immediate past director of Matthew 25. “Their volunteer hours and their financial support have grown the outreach of Matthew 25 so much during the past 10 years. This ministry serves Moore County helping to provide resources to food insecure individuals.”
Hill added that Matthew 25 is also a blessing to volunteers “as it fosters friendships, community involvement and leadership development. I ask God’s blessings that we may sustain this vital feeding ministry well into the future.”
For more information, to get involved or make a donation, visit www.oursaviouronline.org or call Our Saviour Lutheran Church at (910) 692-2662.
