Central Union Church, a Faith Action member, is Serving Aloha
By Evie Hao, Communications Committee Member
Central Union Church’s “Serving Aloha” mission completed its 74th week on February 23, 2022 with about 500 guests. Our first week in October 2020 served 200 families.
The need in our community (McCully, Moiliili, Kapiolani) is ongoing. About 30-35 volunteers from CUC and other organizations help every Wednesday from 9:00 AM-1:00 PM.
Parishioners from other Faith Action churches (First Unitarian Church of Honolulu, Trinity United Methodist Church, and Church of the Crossroads) have generously joined in to help.
Every week brings a different variety of food from the Food Bank—rice, noodles, milk, eggs, tortillas, pineapple, bok choy, long beans, bread, juice, eggplant, etc. Organizing the changing bounty is always a challenge, expresses a helper. “It really feels like a miracle seeing everything get sorted and bagged and distributed!”
Martha Balkin, CUC church council chair, sees a community being built around Serving Aloha. “You really get to know some of the folks you encounter each week. Some have shared what lies in their hearts.” Every Wednesday, after getting their food, many guests choose to receive a printed prayer card. One guest said the food feeds his body, and the prayer card feeds his heart.
“Amen to that! What more can we as a church hope for, than to be a place of spiritual nourishment,” exclaims Martha.
Would you like to help? Just show up, Wednesdays, 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM at 1660 Beretania Street. Stay as long as you can.