New Life Mobile Soup Kitchen

During my time at New Life Community Development and at the St. John’s Bread and Life Mobile Soup Kitchen, I learned quite a few valuable things. When I first started my academic service learning, I went in with the attitude of getting the job done and leaving. I had no intention of enjoying the experience. Although that changed when I walked into the Mobile Soup Kitchen on a grimy Monday afternoon with a whole line of people waiting outside the truck. I immediately started to prepare for the long hours inside the truck. The people standing outside looked mainly like minority groups such as Blacks, Hispanics, etc. There are four stations in the truck. Three volunteers are assigned to putting the food into the plates and there is one main person …show more content…
John’s Bread and Life Mobile Soup Kitchen pledge to feed the homeless and to do it in such a manner which benefits the community. The mission of New Life is “to meet the needs and cultivate the strengths of the poor and marginalized in Central Queens through community building and a demonstration of the love of God. We believe in breaking cycles of poverty and academic failure while creating cycles of new life.” I found their mission to be very explicit and creatively put using the term “New Life” in their mission statement quite effectively. The mission statement shows me what the organization does and is about because they try to provide a new beginning for anyone who needs the help. They inspire a culture of giving back to the community. The mission of St. John’s Bread and Life is “to alleviate hunger and poverty in Brooklyn and Queens. By first addressing the basic needs of poor New Yorkers, we are helping people achieve self-sufficiency, in addition to educating the public about the persistence of hunger and poverty in our communities.” This mission statement was clear to me because it states exactly what the organization does and provides. There is no vagueness in their mission and they use a definitive statement to focus in on their goals as an …show more content…
John’s Bread and Life was founded in 1982 and it works to bring food to the poor and accompany them in their journey to their well-being and journey to stability. It is strongly set on the words of St. Vincent “to serve others as we would serve Christ.” Starting off as a small soup kitchen, it has expanded its bases with the mobile soup kitchen, which lets St. John’s Bread and Life give meals to people who cannot travel to Brooklyn. The organization has gained much progress from its beginnings and gets many funds from St. John’s University. They serve about 1,000 people in one day with meals and other accommodations. Some competing forces could be whether they have the right amount of food to serve that day, accommodating people’s needs, etc. Another competing factor is the social impact it has with so many people receiving food from the kitchen. Because of the progress they have received, it may be hard to feed all those people at least two meals a day and providing external services may be hard.
Similarly, Pete and Geri Scazzero founded New Life Community to be a multi-ethnic, inter-generational, inter-denominational church in the Elmhurst area in 1987. It was founded in the church’s distinctive: Monastic, Multiracial, Emotionally Healthy, Marriage to Christ and Missional. New Life has grown to attract more people as it grows in the community. It has evolved into a major part of the Queens community. Some of the competing factors could be the amount of food they need,