The Beginning

The summer of 2011 my family and I parked the car and set off walking to Victory Field to take in an Indians minor league baseball game.  On our way we passed a homeless man who was asking for food.  He wasn't begging for money.  He was just looking for an extra PB&J that someone might be willing to share from their cooler.

That image stuck with me, and after a lot of prayer I took my idea to my husband.  The idea was this: pack a bunch of PB&J lunches and take them (with my kiddos in tow) downtown to the area around the stadium and pass them out once a week.  My husband understandably had some concerns about me and the kids being in that area by ourselves.  I didn't really give the idea much more thought after that.  Honestly, looking back, I think it gave me the excuse to let it go until.....

About April 2012 I was reading Just Courage: God's Great Expedition for the Restless Christian by Gary Haugen for the Curriculum Team at our church.  While reading (and being ridiculously challenged (shoved) out of my comfort zone), the PB&J idea crossed my mind again along with a specific park in downtown Indy.  I had seen homeless men and women in that park before and I knew that was the spot.  It was a very central location, out in the open, and when I mentioned it to my husband he was all for it!  I have no doubt that God planted the thought of that park in my mind that day and to even take it a step further I don't doubt he led me to that particular book as well.  The details He weaves together are amazing!

That was the start.  I began praying like crazy.  Some of the prayers were **are you sure about this, God? **seriously, a PB&J, God?  **what is this really gonna do?  Nevertheless, I pushed forward.  It became very important to me that I be able to continue to serve these men and women on the same day of the week every week for an indefinite amount of time once I started.  After a lot more prayer, and time and working through the details, my kids and I set a start date of Tuesday, June 26th.

I have to be honest.  There were many moments that I second guessed the idea.  Mostly, I thought it almost seemed too simple, silly even.  I even received a few comments from people to that effect.  BUT as I continued to pray about it, I knew God was pushing me to this and Satan was trying his hand to push me away.  And so on June 26th my kids and I set off to East St. Clair St. and Meridian to deliver our first cooler full of PB&J's.