The good news is that LFRI reopened after the worst of Covid-19, using its canteen truck, proving direct service to our homeless brothers and sisters in need beginning in May 2022. We did this while continuing with a host of other ways of servicing during the Covid-19 pandemic of the past two years
Vehicle Runs. LFRI’s eleven member churches, with the help of many loyal volunteers, have conducted 253 vehicle delivery runs in the twelve months of 2022. This includes the deliveries directly to clients mentioned above as well as directly to homeless shelters, soup kitchens, and schools in Providence, Woonsocket, and East Providence – providing food, clothing, and other essentials for distribution to their clients. The following is a summary of these deliveries:
Canteen Truck. Beginning In May we resumed direct to client deliveries via our canteen truck at noon to Woonsocket each Saturday in each month. This totaled 37 deliveries.
Member Vehicles. Included in the above number were 168 car-type drop ship deliveries to soup kitchen and homeless shelters in Providence.
Adopt a School Program. 21 of the above runs were to middle schools in the East Providence area, providing food, clothing, and books for needy school children.
Youth Center Deliveries. Each Friday in the summer volunteer family lunch deliveries were made to youth centers in Providence. This included 6 runs via our canteen truck.
Soups for the needy. On four occasions, amounting to 21 of the above runs, we delivered in total 1,600 4lb frozen soup bags (6,400 lbs.). These were purchased from Blount Fine Foods at a favorable none profit rate and delivered to some 6 homeless shelters and soup kitchens in Providence.
The above deliveries were made possible by the donations and grant funds we received. If you would like to support our continuation of the above efforts, please consider a donation to our non-profit 50(c)(3) Loaves & Fishes Rhode Island. You can do so via PayPal on our website www.lfri.org or by mail, checks made out to LFRI, to LFRI 1520 Broad Street, Providence, RI 02905, attention Bill Aldrich.
Many thanks and God Bless.