Al Bol Visit to Examine the Building

Al Bol and his friend Bill from the Plainfield Planning Board visited the Freedom Ministry facility to make observations and suggestions.  They toured the interior and the exterior of the building.  Kelvin Thomas made the tour.

OBSERVATIONS

• Roof - there are constructs on the side of the roof that could be the cause of water accessing the interior of the building.  The rusting process of the steel girder inside the construct cause the cement to fracture and fall off.
• Heating Plant - this original installation is an electric heating system.  Due to the use of electricity this is very expensive and inefficient.  It is currently not functioning but is a major consideration.
• Pumping System - There is a large pumping system in the basement.  This system is critical to enable the plumbing to work.
• The Vault - this bank vault is quite large and would be extremely expensive to remove from the building.
• The Teller Drive Thru - three drive through banking windows are present.  They are supported by a tunnel to the main building.  Removal of these windows and the tunnel would be expensive and required by the town.

SUGGESTIONS

• Roof Estimate - a roofing contractor should be consulted for a bid to replace the roof of the building.  This will be needed in any scenario of purchase.  This estimate will be used to understand the total cost of purchase..
• Furnace Replacement with Gas Line - PS&G should be consulted for a bid to replace the furnace with a gas version.  No use of the building can be envisioned without a working furnace.
• Commercial Building Inspector - in any scenario to purchase the building an inspection should be acquired detailing improvements needed.

Volunteers here is your Orientation

FREEDOM MINISTRY PARTNERSHIP

ORIENTATION

12.9.14

1. TRAVEL

Travel to 1301 W. Front Street, Plainfield, NJ.  This location is the church facility for Freedom Ministry.  It is 12.1 miles from the church in Liberty Corner and should take 20 minutes to travel if you leave from the church.  Take I78 to exit 36 turn right and travel through Warren continuing to Rt.22.  Turn left and proceed east to Rock Avenue, turn right.  Follow to W. Front Street and turn left.  Church is on the right at 1301 W. Front Street.  Front Street is also Rt. 28 so you could travel from Bridgewater or Bound Brook along Rt. 28 eastbound to also arrive at the church.

2. DRESS

Appropriate dress is outdoor work clothes, like blue jeans and sweatshirt.  We want the clients to feel comfortable with our service and your clothing will form a first impression.  You will want to be comfortable as well and this work is not heavy but is could be a little messy.   The food bank is inside the main sanctuary of the church during the winter and in the parking lot during warmer months.

3. PARKING

There is a small parking lot on the side of the church and in back.  If possible you should park in this parking lot.  If the lot is full, please find street parking on W. Front Street near the church.

4. ARRIVAL TIME

The distribution of food commences at 7 am.  You should plan to arrive by 6:45 am.  You will learn that the volunteers and clients arrive before this time.  Some of the clients will arrive as early as 2:30 am to ensure they are on the top of list for a full basket of food, first come first serve.  There will be a short prayer to commence the distribution and then one at a time the clients will register, sign in with photo id, and proceed to the food.  You will likely be at the tables for distribution.  

5. SUPERVISION

The Hiltons will be leading the event.  Tommy and Atia Hilton are members of the church and supervise the operation to be in compliance with Federal Food Bank regulations.  They will assign you to your work station.  Several others will also be engaged in the process.  In total you will find 5-7 volunteers from Freedom Ministry in attendance.  When his work schedule permits Pastor Antoine Thomas and /or his brother Kelvin Thomas may be present.

6. WORK

The work is simply handing out the food and helping the clients receive their food and transport it to their cars.  The food you hand out originates in a storage container behind the church.  Most of this food is secured from Federal and State distribution centers.  Once per month the allotment of food is delivered to the church.  Food bank operations are conducted the 2-4th Saturdays of the month or until the food inventory is depleted.  You should expect to be at the food bank from 7 am to 9 am.  Though the food bank is open until 11 am, most of the early visitors will deplete the inventory leaving only select items for late arrivals.  

There will be about 150 people served typically. The majority of clients are repeat visitors and are well known by the volunteers. These clients and new ones learn about the foodbank via word of mouth. Client demographics appear to be 80% women average age of 50, 60% Hispanic.

Food Bank Orientation - Garcia Family

Today we attended the Food Bank at Freedom Ministry in Plainfield.  Attending were the Garcia Family including Ally, Humberto and Isabela.  Along with this family I attended as well.  The event was very helpful in terms of our orientation.  Tom and his wife Atia spent a good amount of time explaining how the event was organized.

Here are some of the observations we made about the food bank operation:

• Food Bank clients - about 150 people attended.  The majority were repeat clients and are well known by the workers.  The primary communication vehicle used in notifying clients is word of mouth.  Many new clients come via current client group.  Client demographics were 80% women, average age 50, 60% hispanic
• Food Bank volunteers - the ministry is led by Tom and Atia Hunter, members of Freedom Ministry.  The volunteer group is supported by the client group, about half the volunteers are clients.  The other half of the volunteers are recruited by MEETUP.COM.  This combination seems to provide needed volunteer workers though it is expected their is some volunteer fatigue present as well.
• Volunteer Roles - the key volunteer roles include :  Leader (Tommy), Registrant (Atia), Floor Leader (Humberto) Prayer Warrior (Jeff), Greeter (?) who hands out tickets, and misc workers to move food ( three needed)
• Hours of Operation - 7am to 11am.  Most of the food was given out by 9am.  Clients start showing at 2:30 am to ensure full food basket.  At 7am when we arrived there was a full church plus standing room only.  All meat was gone by 8:15 so one third of the clients did not get meat (chicken).
• Team member orientation process completed - Garcias (3), R. Power, A. Stewart.  Team member orientations to be completed - Mert, Dennis, Jack, Doug, Karen/Don and Dan.  Suggested orientation schedule:  Mert/Dennis/Doug - December 13, Don and Dan December 20 and finally Jack F 2nd Saturday in January.  Please rsvp your availability.  We want all team members to work one food bank prior to next meeting in January
•  Food Operation and distribution - the food donations are primarily provided by the government.  FM gets one delivery per month based upon the registrations turned in from prior activity of the bank.  Food is provided free of charge but is not adequate to meet the needs of the clients.  Some of the food items are available to be purchased when funds are available.  The delivery cost could be mitigated if a truck and workers were available.  Kelly Tancredi gave us 8 bags of groceries donated by a local congregation.  Carolyn gave a turkey and side items.
• Team member ideas to support the Food Bank - 1) Provide donations of food, 2) cook a meal for all clients at LCC (Isabela idea), 3) Get truck and volunteers to pick up the food saving the cost to the FM of delivery, 4) adopt a family in which LCC members provide food grants to specific families in food bank a couple times a year.  Adopted familes could be served by the paired LCC family at the dinner, 5) Improve the efficiency of the bank process eliminating the need to come early, notification of food bank clients about hours of operation, 6) Support drug and alcohol rehabilitation orientation resource at the Food Bank, 7) Provide a Christmas Tree at LCC with wish list items for clients children or grandchildren of food bank from which LCC members can select. 

Meeting with Kelvin Thomas

Meeting: Andy and Kelvin

Objective: Identify first steps in serving new ministry partnership. Possible areas to cover include food bank protocal, thanksgiving food gifts from lcpc, other ministry plans.

Notes:  Agreed to develop a three month plan which would have the objective to complete our leadership team orientation protocol as well to come up with the annual plan.

• Kelvin envisions that this will enable an expansion of the food bank currently under the management of the Hunter family. 
•  People on the Rise would be the proposed branded name of the program. Seen as low hanging fruit of the partnership. 
•  The food bank was created by Antoine as part of his spirit led ministry. 
• Keeping Don and Antoine engaged and with each other is seen as a key factor. They will serve on Governance Group with Kelvin and Andy. 
• Landlord has been engaged over the rental payments. He was surprised that the initial payment less than 12 months.

Next Steps:  Orientation plan to be sent to Andy on Friday including the Garcia's OK to come.

First Meeting Results

Great meeting and turnout. Even Don came from his "sick bed" to be with us to launch this ship of mission. He and Antoine are in sync. Antoine's wife and brother came to help with the gathering spirit. LCPC people are excited to get going. Very good outcome. We have turned this over to the Lord and His will be done.

Vision Statement

Freedom Ministry Partnership Vision - Creating a ministry of Liberty Corner Church dedicated to providing service and care to the poor locally in Plainfield via a partnership with Freedom Ministry