| Feed the Hungry nourishes body and soul By Yvonne J. Medley UMConnection Correspondent For Shirley Arrington of Lansdowne UMC, working with a team of church members and community friends providing meals to the needy is like enjoying a year-round holiday. I used to have dinners for Christmas and Thanksgiving, and have lots of people over, Arrington said. But holiday pressures got to her and she turned her love for feeding people into an outreach ministry. Now, she says, she can still prepare food and play host to a lot of people, minus the holiday pressures. With this, Arrington said. I dont worry about it and it just gets done. Its eight or nine people who help me at the church. Church members prepare the meals and deliver them in time for a 5 p.m. dinner at Brooklyn UMC in Baltimore, because, that church is easier to get to, Arrington said. I know how people have needs over there. The program is supported through donations from individuals and local businesses. If Arrington catches a good sale on meat, I just go and buy it, she said. The people eat as much as they want. Its a loaves and fishes phenomena she attributes to the hand of God. Lansdownes chef, John Lombardo, loves helping out. Hes racked up 42 years of expertise in food service, first in the Army, then at Harbor Hospital. When the women in the kitchen asked for his help, he didnt hesitate. When Arrington approached the Rev. Richard Andrews about sharing in the feeding ministry at Brooklyn UMC, the program was already well underway. It has expanded to provide full meals to 50-75 people three days a week. The Brooklyn volunteers serve a Tuesday brunch-time meal, and meals on Wednesday and Sunday at 5 p.m. Lansdowne UMC prepares the meals every first and second Wednesday. And if theres five Wednesdays in a month, we do it the fourth Wednesday also, Arrington said. The Lansdowne-Brooklyn project provides more than food and fellowship. It offers prayers and spiritual gbwc_superuserance when requested, Andrews said. We treat folks the way we would like to be treated. The outreach workers also provide bags filled with hygiene items. Brooklyn UMC runs a clothes closet and once a month has a parish nurse on hand to provide flu shots, take blood pressures and consult with those who come for food. The face of the hungry in this neighborhood has changed. When Brooklyn UMC began the program nearly 10 years ago, the constituency was primarily 15-20 middle age men on the street, Andrews said. Today we see more women and children. Lombardo, the chef, agrees. When you have all those little children coming there too, that really gets to you, he said. The Landsdowne-Brooklyn feeding ministry and another at Brooklyn Heights UMC are the two projects approved for support through the Feed the Hungry Advance Special. In January, 1998, the Rev. Linda Coolbaugh, a deacon, started the Brooklyn Heights UMC program which she calls Body and Soul. She is a psychotherapist and member of Nichols-Bethel UMC in Odenton. Coolbaugh provides spiritual counseling and oversees the program and donations, while Brooklyn Heights outreach members work in five-person teams to provide meals every Tuesday from 10-11:30 a.m. The program feeds an average of 30 to 40 people each week. Anyone can come, even church members who wish to fellowship, said Barbara Brooks, one of the outreach members. Brooklyn Heights Body and Soul incorporates monthly health-care services, rendered by Harbor Hospital. Blood pressures are checked, vaccines are administered and informative pamphlets are dispensed. With the aid of Anne Arundel Countys Food Bank and businesses like the Weiss Market, bags of food are handed out at least on a monthly basis, if not more. The church also distributes clothes and hygiene items. Developing and working in the program has meant a lot to Coolbaugh. I feel very spiritually fed by it, she said. For more information on Advance Specials, contact Associate Council Director Sandy Ferguson at the conferences Board of Christian Presence in Gods World by calling (800) 492-2525 or by e-mail at
. Donations to support the Feeding the Hungry conference Advance Special should be made payable to the Baltimore-Washington Conference Treasurer. Linda Worthington, UMConnection staff, contributed to this article. | 
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