Los Angeles, US
RNS
Just over a month after the Dream Center began offering free meals to Los Angeles residents in the midst of the pandemic, the faith-based nonprofit reached a major milestone.
On Tuesday, the centre passed the 350,000 mark of free meals it has provided since mid-March.
People carry free meals away from the Dream Center, in the Echo Park neighbourhood of Los Angeles. Dream Center is the non-profit of Pentecostal megachurch Angelus Temple. PICTURE: Courtesy of Dream Center
The Dream Center in Echo Park – which is run by the Angelus Temple, a Pentecostal megachurch – is open from 7:30am to 6:30pm seven days a week to provide volunteer-prepared meals as well as donated food from restaurants, not just to families with children from the Los Angeles Unified School District, but to anyone who stops by for its drive-through service.
Angelus Temple pastor Matthew Barnett said on Instagram that the Dream Center will be celebrating every 50,000 mark as a milestone.
In a post on Tuesday, the pastor reflected how 25 years ago he came to LA with a plan to stay for only three months while his father could find an experienced pastor. He stayed after his father, who helped shape the Dream Center, couldn’t find anyone. Barnett said there was zero momentum back then and he decided to move his desk on the sidewalk to hand out a few bags of food he was able to purchase.
“It felt so small and insignificant but it was a start,” he wrote. “Where am I now? Living the best years of ministry doing the most simple things.”
Since mid-March, the Dream Center has received a number of donations.
With support from the Jesus is King rapper Kanye West, the Dream Center was able to deliver meals to older residents, Barnett told Fox News. Local and chain restaurants such as Vince’s Market and Chick-fil-A have also have provided food. People have stopped by the center to drop off water bottles or diapers, or to donate some of their own cash.
The Dream Center began providing free meals after the Los Angeles Unified School District, one of the two largest districts in California, closed to reduce the spread of COVID-19. The centre is delivering care packages to older residents and food to outreach sites in Watts and Skid Row, according to its website.
Angelus Temple cancelled its in-person worship services in early March and focused on feeding those in need. Services have continued to stream online.
Barnett said some people thought the church’s decision to cancel its public services was abrupt and drastic, “but we knew that something was about to happen that was to become major,” he told Religion News Service in a previous interview.
That resistance, he said, “is not productive in bringing about healing and possibilities of what we can do during this time.”
People carry free meals away from the Dream Center, in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. PICTURE: Courtesy of Dream Center
Tuesday evening, Barnett shared an Instagram video in which he reflected on a conversation with a man who was the last person to drive through the Dream Center that evening. Barnett gave him rolls of toilet paper. The man told him he had been using newspaper.
“It made me think about how much God cares about the last detail and the last car and the last man that needs rolls of toilet paper,” he said.
“I just don’t know how long that California is going to be in this situation, but one thing I know is we’re going to be fighting all the way until the end,” Barnett said.
