“The community has relied on us for 22 years. We need to be here. We need to exist to care for the most vulnerable in our city, and we have to make sure we protect that future.”
-Amber Fogarty, President & Chief Goodness Officer, Mobile Loaves & Fishes
You are Essential.
We’ve always known this to be true, but even more so in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic we’re all experiencing. Thank you for proving this time and time again over the 22 years that Mobile Loaves & Fishes has been serving our homeless neighbors.
During the recent weeks of uncertainty, it seems that use of the word essential has become more common. We are grateful that MLF is deemed essential as an organization that serves the homeless. We consider it a great privilege to be able to continue our ministry, serving goodness every day to those most vulnerable in our community.
You remain essential to everything we do, now more than ever before. It is only through your loyal support that we continue to provide food and clothing, cultivate community and promote dignity to our homeless brothers and sisters living on the streets of Austin and to those neighbors already living in Community First! Village.
Because everything we do is about relationships and connecting human to human, heart to heart, we have been especially challenged during this unprecedented time of social distancing. Our MLF food trucks are still operating throughout the city, although service has looked somewhat different in order to best care for those we serve. We are grateful for the collaboration with many community partners, making it possible to continue providing food and basic necessities to our unsheltered neighbors, ensuring they are not forgotten.
As always, we want to ensure that our neighbors living in Community First! Village are safe, supported and well cared for. Many neighbors are particularly vulnerable because of their age and compromised immune systems. “Being together while apart” is our new mantra at the Village as we work to keep everyone healthy by serving pre-packaged meals daily to all neighbors, arranging virtual care visits by primary and mental health care service providers, finding alternative dignified income opportunities for neighbors on site, and increasing cleaning and sanitizing efforts in all shared areas around the Village.
We are so grateful for you. You are essential—and always will be essential—to everything we do and everyone we serve through Mobile Loaves & Fishes. Because of you, we remain confident that we will make our way through this crisis together.
The power of your loyal support provides for the immediate needs of our homeless and formerly homeless neighbors and allows us to push forward with hope for the future.
