When he fed the hungry, Jesus didn’t ask for zip codes or parish registration. Neither did Francis of Assisi.
That’s a fact always in the heart of John Grden, director for the past 18 years of the Franciscan Outreach Program at Transfiguration Parish in Southfield, Michigan, located just a few miles from the Detroit city line. Because hunger knows no boundaries, the outreach is available to anyone in need.
Rooted in a deep Franciscan mission, the Franciscan Outreach Program has its roots that began in the Great Depression and continued as a ministry of the Duns Scotus College, a now-closed Franciscan seminary. It moved to the Franciscan parish in the early 1990s. Recipients come from all over the Detroit Metro Area. If you need help, you are welcome, no matter where you might come from or what house of worship you attend.
Some 800 families visit the outreach each month where they receive nutritious food. Twice a week, on Monday and Wednesday mornings, the pantry is open for distribution of fresh vegetables, bread, juice, and meat. The focus is exclusively on food. There are other needs that the outreach can’t meet. For example, the Fire Department won’t allow clothing distribution because of safety concerns. But the program tries to do what it can.
“We don’t have borders,” said Grden, noting that is a unique feature of the work of the Franciscan Outreach. Other pantries will only distribute food for those located in certain neighborhoods. The focus of the Franciscan Outreach Program extends to providing healthy eating for anyone who is needy in the Metro region.
Support for the project comes from government, local businesses, including grocery stores and restaurants, as well as volunteers from the parish and the wider community. The Franciscan community provides support as well. Grden has noticed a decline in donations recently, as well as cutbacks in food assistance from the government. The Detroit region is known for its economic ups and downs, as well as areas of grinding long-term poverty. Some families have come to the outreach for food support for decades, some traveling as much as 20-30 miles to load up their cars.
Grden notes that recently some outlets have cut back on donations. He wonders why. “Stores still have the stuff. Is it going somewhere else?” asks Grden, noting the ongoing demand. Another concern is that donors and volunteers are getting older and there is a need for younger people to get involved, he said.
The Outreach Program provides more than 100 pounds of food to every family, sometimes more for larger households. That includes canned goods, particularly soup, vegetables, and fruit, as well as meat.
Other distributed staples include seafood, milk, yogurt, juice, as well as fresh produce. The church basement is stocked each week from different sources. Twice a week John visits a local Panera restaurant where he gathers bread and baked goods that otherwise would be thrown out.
The outreach needs volunteers, sometimes hard to get. Local high schoolers will use the program as an opportunity to gain service points. That is well appreciated as young labor, able to lift heavy boxes, is particularly needed.
“It’s not for everybody,” John noted about volunteering at the outreach. He suggests that prospective volunteers observe a session or two to find out where they might be the most useful. Older volunteers sometimes find the heavy labor to be a strain but can be used to assist the clerical work and organizing lines.
John is now 72 but doesn’t think of letting himself give up the volunteer effort. He started working with the Franciscan Outreach after being laid off from an IT job decades ago and he found himself looking for something to do. He knows what it’s like to seek employment as an aging worker, the dislocation it can cause on finances and self-esteem, an attitude reflected among those who seek help. A parish friar suggested the outreach mission.
He’s found that it has been a valuable opportunity.
“You go home at the end of the day. You accomplished something. That’s not the feeling you get with a regular job,” said John.
John says the outreach is always seeking donations as well as volunteer help. The best way to donate, he notes, is via cash, so that there is flexibility in what can be bought. A donation link can be found at https://www.transfigsfld.org/Franciscan-Outreach-Program and the postal address is Transfiguration Outreach Program, 25225 Code Road, Southfield, Michigan 48033.