A couple of years ago, friends Mary Stevens and Judy Mattox felt called to make meals for people in need. At first they organized a small group that served meals at their shared church, and while that was a successful effort, they both felt led to do more, but in order to do that they’d need to take a couple leaps of faith, like registering as a nonprofit, finding a kitchen where they could prep and cook meals, and raise funds.
Feeding on Faith has been official since November of 2024, after everything was finalized – from becoming a 501 (c) 3 nonprofit, to meeting health department requirements, to finding a kitchen and place to serve meals, all of which took about six months.
Things really started to pick up for the organization once they were able to begin organizing community meals served at the Marylou Community Building in Truesdale, located in Warren County, which started this past summer and is still going strong.
The meals they’ve served have changed along with the seasons, over the summer the ladies served items like “walking tacos” for lunch at the concession pavilion located outside of the Marylou Community Building. During that time, they fed a lot of kids since school wasn’t in session, as well as some single adults, retirees, and families.
Mary and Judy say they still see “a pretty good mix of people” at each community meal, with many return attendees.
“We see a lot of families and we hear the same thing each time: ‘you don’t know how much this helps,'” Mary shares.
And since the women both feel like creating this nonprofit was a calling from God, it’s important that the help they provide often looks like the kind of comforting meal you’d get if you were invited to a friend’s house for dinner.
Casserole meals are popular dishes, but the ladies have also made hearty meals like scalloped potatoes and ham, soups and chili, as well as sandwiches and chips, and chili dogs. Although both ladies love to cook for others, Judy is the baker of the two, so every meal also includes a dessert of some sort.
Although they’re a fairly new organization, they’ve made a significant impact for those in need. So far, they’ve served over 900 meals to the community, helping to feed people at the community meal events as well as providing meals to nearby shelters.
“We really wanted to serve 2,000 meals last year, but in the beginning we had some delays with renting a kitchen,” Mary explains.
In addition to feeding people at the every other Monday community meals, some of the shelters and other groups they’ve provided meals for include a domestic abuse shelter and they’ve helped make lasagnas for the Lincoln County chapter of the nation-wide meal train program called Lasagna Love.
Having access to the space inside Marylou Community Building once every other week means they have a place to keep their supplies, a requirement per the health department, but also it means they’re able to preserve any leftovers and purchase more perishable ingredients in advance.
“We were able to buy a freezer, so now we can buy things when they’re on sale,” Judy says.
As a nonprofit they rely on donations and volunteers, and whenever they’re able to make ingredients and funds stretch, the more people they’re able to help. Mary shares that since they’re such a new organization, a lot of volunteers at Feeding on Faith have been friends and family, although they also welcomed a Girl Scout Troop to help serve a community meal last year.
And there’s also been support from individuals and organizations in the community, including Cuivre River Electric, Long Row Lavender Farm, Woodbridge Corp., Sam’s Club in Wentzville, and many more. Without those donations – of both funds and supplies – the nonprofit wouldn’t have been able to make such a profound impact.
Planning for the future
Both Judy and Mary see Feeding on Faith expanding to help even more people.
“Judy wants a food truck,” Judy says with a laugh.
The women hope to grow the nonprofit by purchasing a food truck or food trailer so they can be mobile to meet, and feed, people where they’re at.
“That’s this year’s partial goal,” Mary adds.
Mary also envisions having a bigger space that’s all their own, so they can have premade, frozen meals ready to help people whenever they need it.
“We’re very grateful to be able to use this space, but unfortunately we don’t have access to it all the time,” Mary shares of the Marylou Community Building. “I’d love to make up individual meals in advance and put them in the freezer at our own place so that if someone reaches out and needs a meal for that day, we can easily help.”
The next community meal served at the Marylou Community Building in Truesdale is on Monday, Feb. 2, from 5-6:30 p.m. If you’d like to learn more about Feeding on Faith, you can follow the organization on Facebook, or visit its website.
Note: This article is part of a series highlighting volunteer groups, individuals who give back to area causes, and people who are building community, such as the piece I wrote on The Homemade Exchange. If you know someone making a positive impact in or around the Franklin County area, email me at smalltownsocialitemo@gmail.com and I may feature them on the website.
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