Mobile Loaves & Fishes has been serving up the Gospel Con Carne to its homeless neighbors in Central Texas for more than two decades.
Mobile Loaves & Fishes began when five parishioners of St. John Neumann Catholic Church in Austin, Texas boldly answered God’s call to “love your neighbor as yourself.” Alan Graham and his friends began delivering meals out of the back of a minivan to men and women they found living on the streets. Graham readily admits that the group’s original approach for serving the homeless had some flaws, but with the help of a formerly homeless man they perfected the model that Mobile Loaves & Fishes successfully uses today.
Their first trip serving meals on the streets of Austin was in September of 1998. Within a few months Graham and his group purchased a pickup truck with a catering bed. Since that first truck run, Mobile Loaves & Fishes volunteers have served more than 5 million meals with a side of hope to homeless men and women living on the streets. Delivering more than a sandwich, Mobile Loaves & Fishes volunteers hit the streets 7 nights a week, 365 days a year to provide food, clothing, hygiene products and other life-sustaining items to our homeless neighbors who are struggling to survive.
Complementing its truck ministry, Mobile Loaves & Fishes is also the visionary behind Austin’s innovative Community First! Village — a 27-acre master planned development that provides affordable, permanent housing and a supportive community for the disabled, chronically homeless in Central Texas. Additionally, Mobile Loaves & Fishes’ Community Works program provides micro-enterprise opportunities that enable formerly homeless men and women to earn a dignified income, develop new skills and cultivate enduring relationships as they take part in a restorative journey home.
