Site Search
Contact
Emily Lowe
Emily is a protopsalti who also oversees the Our Daily Bread food kitchen ministry. She has studied architecture and classics, and now teaches high school English, math and private piano lessons. She converted to Orthodoxy from the Presbyterian church in 1996.
Attention!
Holy Cross’ involvement in ODB is to volunteer once quarterly. We do not own or operate the facility and are otherwise not involved in its internal matters.
Food Kitchen (ODB)
Our Daily Bread is the name of a soup kitchen in Baltimore that serves one hot meal a day, between 10am and 2pm, to the city’s poor and homeless. It is staffed and run entirely by volunteers, primarily of the Catholic Charities organization. This ministry was viewed as so important by Pope John Paul II that he cancelled a number of items on his agenda during his visit to Baltimore so he could meet the workers at Our Daily Bread! After having a hot meal, guests are given a bag lunch to take with them. Our Daily Bread also has an active food pantry, which distributes canned goods to the poor and homeless throughout the week.
In addition to serving the food (a hot casserole, vegetable, bread, and coffee) volunteers also prepare the food ahead of time. There’s a rotating menu of ten easy-to-prepare casseroles that are baked and frozen, then reheated at the facility on the day they are to be served.
What’s Involved?
Volunteering to serve requires driving to downtown Baltimore, putting on an apron and gloves and an attitude of humility.
Volunteering to cook requires getting some groceries (nothing fancy — chicken, rice, frozen vegetables) and coming to church for a few hours. The baking and freezing will be done at home. The casseroles then need to be brought to church for a designated pickup time.
Who Can Participate?
Anyone over the age of fourteen may volunteer at the kitchen (young children are not allowed in the facility, so if you are a parent, you will need to find childcare that day) and anyone may volunteer to help bake casseroles. Especially, though, I want this to be a youth-focused activity. This ministry was so helpful to me when I was in the youth group years ago, and I can’t say enough about the spiritual benefits that come with serving someone else, especially a stranger.
I hope you will join us in this vitally important ministry. Please let me know if you have any questions!