This Ain't No Soup Kitchen

When Community Ambassadors first adopted the Pay It Forward Cafe program back in 2011, we were eager to embark on a project that was helping address a growing problem within the Parma area – food insecurity.  But was this what Pay It Forward Cafe was all about?

In our first couple years, we focused hard on achieving the mission to feed the needy.  As a result, we served many meals to many people.  In fact, each week, 60 to 80 patrons would file in on Saturday afternoons at Parmatown Mall to receive a free hot meal. We served, they ate, and then they left.  For all intents and purposes, we did a good job.

Jeremy Kiner

However, it dawned on us eventually that some patrons we served did not appear to be dealing with any economic plight; yet they came to the Cafe week after week.  Why then were they coming if they did not need a free meal?  Were they abusing the system?  Were they taking advantage of charitable organizations like us who were naive enough to keep offering freebies?  Or were they there for reasons other than food?

While certainly there are patrons we serve each week who are legitimately in need of food assistance, we have learned that some are not.  Over time, we have begun to recognize the reality that God has made us all 3-part people – body, mind, and spirit – and that we each deal with poverty on different fronts.  For one person, the deficiency may be in the area of food or money.  For another, it may be a need for hope.  Another, a need for community.  At Pay It Forward Cafe, we have learned that people come for all sorts of different reasons, each dealing with their own unique poverty.  Some that come, may not need the free meal, but they do need the connection they experience with others.

For this reason, Pay It Forward Cafe has been redefined since 2011.  It is no longer merely a “food outreach.”  While we do serve food, we are not just a soup kitchen.  If we were, we would be failing – miserably.  We would be filling bellies, but leaving empty hearts.  Today, Pay It Forward Cafe is now a gathering place for community.  A place where people can experience the atmosphere of God’s love in a very real, tangible way.  It is place where people experience relationship.

Remarkable and powerful things happen in the context of community.  We see it every week.  People from all different walks of life, all different socio-economic statuses, who walk through the doors of the Cafe and encounter something that they have never felt or experienced before.  It is the power of community.  And it is through community, that we are able to sit down and engage with people over a hot meal and build relationship with them.  As a result, so many times, we have been given the opportunity to lead people forward in their life – whether that’s to a new job, to new friendships, to healing, or to a relationship with Jesus Christ.

Pay It Forward Cafe is one way, one tool, that we have to help change the landscape of our community.  We are passionate about making a difference and committed to being missional in all we do.

We are so thankful for the many churches in the Parma area that share our same conviction and have encouraged us and supported us through the years – through prayers, through volunteers, and through financial support.  We believe that through efforts like Pay It Forward Cafe, people who are longing for more to life, will experience the powerful hope and love of Jesus through our hands, our feet, and our words.

2 Corinthians 5:20
“So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us...”

Would you help us spread the word? Below is a PDF flyer to post or pass around to let more people know about this great weekly opportunity.  Just click the image to download.