Feed the Need celebrates 9 years, looks for help to continue serving
BRAWLEY – The everyday hustle and bustle of community service keeps the staff and volunteers of Brawley Feed the Need quite busy.
“He hasn’t ate; he just got nachos,” “He wants a plain hotdog,” and “He needs to go to the bathroom” were some of the asks heard during a late morning lunch feeding from needy families. “Who hasn’t gotten a hotdog over here,” and “If you still want more we have more being made; just ask, OK,” were some of the responses on the lips of volunteers as they worked to feed over 35 people for lunch, having already fed more than 60 for breakfast just a few hours earlier.
Such is the everyday scene five days a week for Brawley Feed the Need, a faith-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit group who toils to do the work they feel God has called them to do: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and giving shelter – even if only for a few hours
– to the homeless who struggle daily to find food, water and cool spaces amid the 110-degree-plus heat in the dangerously hot Imperial Valley summer.
On Monday, July 1, Brawley Feed the Need celebrated its 9th anniversary as an organization dedicated to not only literally “feed”-ing the needy, but also attempt to meet their needs in a variety of other ways, BFTN board members said.
“When I first started I really didn’t know what I was going to do; I was just up for the challenge,” BFTN Founder, CEO and Board President, Rosalind Servin, said.
“I said, ‘We’re going to start giving out food on July 1,’ and people said, ‘In July? Do you know how hot it’s going to be?’ I think people thought I was crazy…and yet here we are, nine years later,” she mused.
“For me, it just signifies just how the Lord has been here since day one,” Servin said. “If you were to know what goes on behind closed doors here in the ministry, (people would know) it really is a miracle that we have made it to the ninth year. I just can’t emphasize enough just how good God has been to our Valley and to our city in this ministry.”
“It’s an honor to be able to serve the community and be able to see what the Lord’s doing every day,” Darlene Berber, executive assistant and board secretary, said. “It’s really Rosalind’s vision and passion to do what’s right.”
On July 1 it was a normal day of feeding the hungry through breakfast and lunch, but the organization – with help from sponsors – were able to also have an little extra through raffle giveaways (hygiene bags and store gift cards), games, live pre-recorded Christian worship music, candy and “lots of sugary treats,” including slices of a birthday cake in celebration of the anniversary.
Pastor Rafael Ito Rodriguez, pastor the of newly organized Sendero Santo Ministries church in El Centro, shared the Good Word and prayer with some of the participants. Members of the “Mujeres de Influencia” ministry were also on deck to lend a hand in the music worship and food service. Food was provided by BFTN and long-time support/sponsor Flash Dogz.
In addition, between the breakfast and lunch servings, some words of testimony were given – both by the BFTN volunteers and their regular homeless patrons – on what good fruits the organization has had to bare over its nine years in existence.
In a short interview with IVP, long-time homeless person Howard King, originally from Northern California, said Berber and others from the BFTN volunteers have made him ‘feel like they are family.’
“Darlene informally adopted me,” the 58-year-old said after looking over the new hygiene bag full of toiletries which he won in a raffle. “I have no other family, so it’s cool. You know what I mean?”
King said he started coming to BFTN because he heard from other local homeless that the center would feed, allow showers and give clothes to those that needed help with those basic human necessities, “and then I started helping out and it went from there.” King has been coming to BFTN for help for over a year, saying he originally “came down here to die, and this is where I ended up.” Today, King returns to BFTN not only for the food and the camaraderie but also, it seems, to begin to turn his life around step by step. “Howard comes to church with me now, sometimes,” Berber said. “For the most part, this place is... the arguments are left at the door,” King said. “It’s a good place because there’s really no demands put on anybody that comes to the door. Common sense and common civility are given to everybody, you know? And they give us a place to eat and a place to sit, and it’s cool.” Though a sign within the center states “Brawley Feed the Need provides the following services: hygiene kits, showers, laundry, weather-appropriate clothing, shoes, sleeping essentials (blankets, etc.)” and as well as “For All Patrons, Including Homeless: Lunch, Monday – Friday, Emergency Food Baskets, Groceries every Wednesday,” and “Special Presentation Guests,” the volunteer crews do their best to meet a variety of other needs for the individuals or families that come to their doorstep. “A lot of the community don’t realize that … there’s a lot of people who we help besides the homeless: the elderly, families with money issues…there’s money issues here too,” Servin said, “but we know that God is faithful, and just being able to request help from the public (happens from us) just to give it back out.
Berber agreed, adding that list “shut-ins,” displaced persons, single-parent households and families with several children, especially during the summer months when school is not in regular session.
“We get reached out to a lot by Sure Helpline, even CalWORKs has reached out to us to help people, either getting into an apartment or needing food or being displaced,” Berber said, “so we do emergency food boxes for people that are off the streets. We collaborate with other ministries that do feed on the weekends, even though we’re closed. I myself take stuff all the way out to Bombay Beach, Niland and Calipat, using the nonprofit name to give to people, so that way they know where to come during the week.”
“While we do focus on the Northend, but we serve anybody who comes in here,” Berber said. “We’ve had people walking here from Texas, Ohio, even the East Coast that are either just passing through or they came out here and they got displaced or something happened.
“It’s not one uniform need – everyday we meet that need as it comes,” Berber said.
Servin said the organization is developing a registry of needy families and hopes to be able to help support 30 of the neediest families in the Imperial Valley’s Northend. “I think it’s important for us to understand in the community and the Imperial Valley that there is a ministry here that’s after God’s heart, and God’s heart is to help others and extend love to others,” she said. “It’s a much needed resource hub here, and we just happen to have it here in Brawley.” “We do give a lot, especially during these hot months,” Servin said. “We need waters. We need monetary donations. Especially with back to school, we’re going to need help from the community to make this happen.” “We need help,” Berber said. “We rely on God, yes, and we have faith, but we can’t do it on our own.” The nonprofit is facing challenging such as keeping their air conditioning going, miscellaneous repairs on the small center building and donations such as clothes, water, shelters tents, school supplies. Servin said monthly sponsors or one-time donations for BFTN are highly encouraged. In addition, it seems more collaborations with other nonprofits and public entities, like the County of Imperial and law enforcement, can help curtail the destroying of homeless’ tents – the only habitats available to them –, the enabling BFTN to establish as County Cool Center, and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to help the center wave fees so the homeless can afford fishing licenses for survival. “We can’t do certain things like housing people, paying light bills, medical care – but a lot of time we are able to meet any other needs that come to us,” Servin said. “I think supporting a nonprofit ministry that cuts out the red tape and goes straight to meeting the JAMES need R. takes SANCINETO work, effort, and dedication… Mar. 26, 1934 – June 15, 2024 and I think if people would see that we’re really trying to meet those needs as quickly as they came to us it would mean a lot to them too.” “For businesses and people with the means to help, not only is a tax write-off but you never know when you’re going to find yourself in a situation when Feed the Need is needed,” Berber said. “I was once well off and found myself needing the help. “…you just never know,” Berber said. “We’re not promised tomorrow but we can be prepared for tomorrow if we work together.” Perhaps the proof of their do-gooding is in the poor themselves. “These guys, to me, are pretty much is what Christians should be,” King said. “We’re just here to lend a hand to people,” Servin said. For information on Brawley Feed the Need, visit brawleyfeedtheneedinc.com.