Feeding the 5000 is a hunger relief outreach program of the Social Ministry Committee at Tree of Life Lutheran Church. Every Thursday morning starting at 5:30 am, a group of dedicated volunteers cook food for approximately 400 people. The prepared food is delivered to multiple homeless shelters and soup kitchens in downtown Harrisburg to be heated and served for their lunch or dinner meal. Meals have been prepared for Bethesda Mission, Downtown Daily Bread, Helping Hands Ministry and other smaller programs.

The program got its name from the popular Bible story about Jesus feeding the 5000. In July of 2015, we served our first meal. The goal at the time was to prepare 100 meals per week for 50 weeks, hence the number 5000. Given the generous support of volunteers and financial contributors, we have been able to expand our goal to 20,000 meals for this year. We started with increased production at the end of 2015. We need your support to keep things moving forward.

If you would like to help support the program, we would appreciate any donations you would be willing to share. Simply write out a check to Tree of Life Lutheran Church and put Feeding the 5000 in the notes and place it in the offering plate at church or send it to the church office at 1492 Linglestown Road, Harrisburg, PA 17110. You can also donate securely using PayPal (even if you don’t have a PayPal account) by simply clicking the Donate button to the right. If you would like to volunteer your time, cooking or delivering meals, please contact Dan at 717-215-6996 or delsnyder55@gmail.com. Any offerings of your time or treasure is greatly appreciated. Thank you! – Dan Snyder