More Than Meals: Where the Holy Spirit Meets a Hungry World
At SJE’s More Than Meals (MTM) Food Pantry, the Holy Spirit is at work through prayer, unexpected blessings, generous neighbors, and disciples who put their faith into action.
What does the Holy Spirit look like?
Sometimes, the Holy Spirit looks like a volunteer bowing her head in prayer before opening the doors of the food pantry. Sometimes, He looks like a family receiving the help it needs to get through another week. Sometimes, He looks like a third grader with a stapler, a grocery bag, and a heart beginning to understand what it means to serve others.
And sometimes, He looks like a case of cooking oil arriving at exactly the moment it is needed, or 42 apple strudels showing up on a day when 42 families visit the pantry.
Some may think it is a coincidence. But those who serve at St. John the Evangelist’s More Than Meals (MTM) Food Pantry, 11311 School Street, St. John, have a different way of looking at things. They see God’s providence at work, often in the smallest details, through people who are willing to answer His call.
As Jeanne DeGrauwe, who serves with the food pantry, puts it, even the phone call asking her to share these stories felt fortuitous, filled with God's timing.
And that is fitting. Because MTM is a place where the Holy Spirit has a way of connecting the dots—bringing together people who need help, people who can give help, and people who discover that serving their neighbors can bring them closer to Jesus.
It Starts With Prayer
At MTM, the day begins before the doors open.
The volunteers gather in prayer, thanking God for the day and entrusting their work to Him. A large photograph of Jesus Christ hangs inside the pantry and a new crucifix has become another meaningful reminder of the One at the heart of everything they do.
For Jeanne, that crucifix has made a difference. These are not simply volunteers stocking shelves and distributing groceries. They are disciples beginning their service by turning toward Christ
SJE’s mission is to “Be Disciples Who Make Disciples who love God, love others, and serve the poor.” At MTM, those words become tangible. The volunteers are not merely handing out food; they are serving people made in the image and likeness of God.
And sometimes, serving begins with something as simple as praying with a person who needs to know that someone cares.
When Prayer Meets Real Life
Throughout the years, volunteers have witnessed moments that have stayed with them. One woman who visited the pantry needed a liver transplant. After repeated visits, conversations, and prayer, the woman eventually received a new liver.
Another woman came to the pantry after being released from jail. She had no place to live and no job. Volunteers prayed with her week after week as she worked through a difficult season of her life. Eventually, she found employment.
These are the kinds of stories that remind Jeanne why the ministry matters. “I mean, it doesn’t happen overnight, but these miracles are happening,” she says.
Not every prayer is answered in the way we expect, and not every difficult circumstance changes quickly. The Church teaches us to trust in God's providence without presuming to know exactly how He will act. But we also know that prayer is never separate from the call to love our neighbor.
At MTM, prayer and practical help go hand in hand. A person may arrive needing groceries, but that need can open the door to something more: encouragement, companionship, prayer, and the reassurance that he or she has not been forgotten.
The food meets an immediate need. The love behind it can help someone recognize the love of God. That is discipleship in action.
The God Winks That Keep Coming
Some of the most remarkable stories at MTM involve no dramatic announcement or extraordinary event. They are the little surprises that leave volunteers shaking their heads and smiling.
Consider the cooking oil. On the first Tuesday of each month, the pantry distributes special household items and cooking essentials that can be expensive for families to purchase on their own. These items include laundry detergent, toothpaste, shampoo, cooking oil, flour, and sugar.
Around the holidays last year, the pantry had completely run out of cooking oil—particularly disappointing for families who enjoy baking. Then, just when the need was greatest, a regular donor walked in with an entire case of oil. Right on time!
And then there was the first Tuesday of October, when 42 families visited the pantry, Someone donated exactly 42 apple strudels. One for every family. Volunteers have seen this happen repeatedly with specific items the pantry needs.
These moments may seem small, but they speak to something beautiful about Christian service. God often works through the generosity, attentiveness, and willingness of ordinary people. A donor may never know exactly who will benefit from a gift, but God can use that generosity in ways the giver never imagined.
As Scripture reminds us, “God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).
At MTM, those cheerful gifts sometimes arrive in the form of a case of oil or a box of pastries. And they are received with gratitude.
A Community That Understands Blessings Are Meant to Be Shared
The pantry's work would not be possible without the many businesses, organizations, and SJE parish partners who continually step forward.
Welch’s Stop and Shop regularly provides ground beef, helping the pantry offer families more than shelf-stable food. Thanks to donations and careful purchasing, MTM also distributes eggs, pork chops, chicken, and other fresh items, along with pantry staples such as Hamburger Helper and pasta sauce.
For Ed Welch, supporting the pantry is a natural extension of a family lesson he learned long ago. His father, the original founder of Welch’s, instilled in him the importance of giving back. God had blessed their family, his father taught, and those blessings carried a responsibility: to become God's hands and feet by blessing others.
Ed carried that lesson into his own life and passed it along to his children.
Welch’s Stop and Shop has supported the pantry several times a year, including around the holidays. The connection is especially meaningful because the business and the church are neighbors, and the store has long been part of the St. John community.
As Ed recognizes, people are blessed in different ways. Some can provide financial assistance; others can give their time, talents or resources. For his family, helping provide food is one way to share the blessings they have received.
That is the beauty of Christian stewardship: recognizing that what we have is a gift from God and asking how we can use it for the good of others.
Welch is not alone. Dot Foods, based in Illinois, contributes thousands of dollars' worth of support annually. Through its Neighbor and Neighbor grant, Jeanne can purchase specific food items, while additional grants help the pantry obtain items selected through the program.
The generosity of corporate partners helps MTM stretch its resources and respond to the real needs of the families it serves.
And a newer neighbor has joined the effort. The recently opened Jewel-Osco in St. John made a generous donation to SJE’s food pantry.
Mary Frances Trucco, Jewel-Osco’s director of Communications, Public Affairs and Government Relations, shared the company's commitment to supporting the communities it serves: “Since opening our newest store, we have enjoyed getting to know many outstanding organizations that are making a positive impact locally, including More Than Meals. We appreciate the important role the pantry plays in helping neighbors in need and are grateful for the warm welcome we've received from the community.”
What a wonderful example of neighbors helping neighbors. And what happens when that spirit of generosity becomes contagious? The blessings keep moving.
When the Whole Parish Becomes Part of the Mission
At SJE, supporting MTM is not limited to a handful of volunteers or business owners. The ministry has become an opportunity for the entire parish community to live its mission.
Three times a year, SJE holds Grocery Bag Days. Parish partners pick up a grocery bag from the Narthex one week and return it the following week filled with nonperishable food items.
Strack & Van Til plays an important role. In addition to providing the food pantry with all of the brown bags for Grocery Bag Days, store manager Paul Meyers ensures the pantry receives bags of groceries during the Thanksgiving season, when shoppers can purchase and set aside food specifically for families in need.
And then there are the third graders.
Two classes of SJE third graders help prepare the brown grocery bags by stapling lists of needed items onto them. But their involvement goes beyond the practical work. The children pray with adult volunteers, learn how the pantry operates and help stock the shelves.
Think about what those children are learning. They are discovering that serving the poor is not just something adults talk about at church. It is something Catholics do. They are learning to see their neighbors as people worthy of dignity, kindness and care.
Their little hands are helping prepare groceries, but their hearts are also being formed in the faith. This is how disciples make disciples: by showing the next generation what it looks like to love as Jesus loves.
Connect Groups and members of That Man Is You (TMIY) also contribute food and resources. The men of TMIY You gather for breakfast and, once a month, donate the cost of their meal to a parish ministry. MTM is often among the recipients.
And the generosity doesn't stop there. Jeanne's small group also supports other ministries, including Walking With Moms in Need. One ministry helps feed families. Another helps support mothers facing difficult circumstances. Parish partners discover needs and respond with the resources they have.
It becomes a beautiful circle of generosity—one act of service inspiring another.
More Than Food, More Than Charity: A Living Faith.
Today, MTM serves dozens of families each week. On the first Tuesday of the month, when the pantry distributes its specialty items, it can assist 40 or more families. On the first Tuesday of October, it served 42.
Behind those numbers are real people navigating real challenges: parents trying to stretch a paycheck, individuals facing unexpected hardship and families who need a little help getting through the month.
The pantry's larger freezer, corporate sponsorships, grants, parish food drives, and individual donations have helped it grow and serve more effectively. Frugal purchasing allows every dollar to go further, while the choice-based distribution system allows visitors to select the items they need.
But the most important thing MTM offers cannot be measured by the number of cans on a shelf or the pounds of ground beef distributed.
It is the recognition that every person who walks through the door matters. Jesus makes that clear in Matthew 25:35: “For I was hungry and you gave me food.”
In the corporal works of mercy, feeding the hungry is not an optional extra for particularly generous Christians. It is one of the concrete ways we are called to love Christ by serving our brothers and sisters.
And serving the poor does not require us to have every answer or solve every problem. It begins by recognizing a need and responding with what we can offer. Sometimes that means purchasing groceries. Sometimes it means making a donation, filling a bag, stocking a shelf or offering a prayer. Sometimes it means simply listening.
At MTM, all these acts become part of something greater than themselves. They become opportunities to encounter Christ, to grow as His disciples and to help others experience His love.
Holy Spirit, What's Next?
SJE's mission calls us to be disciples who make disciples—people who love God, love others and serve the poor. MTM shows us what that mission can look like when it moves beyond words and becomes a way of life. The Holy Spirit works through all of it.
We may not always recognize His work at the moment. We may simply see a donation, a volunteer, a bag of groceries or a prayer offered quietly in the corner of a pantry. But when we look more closely, we begin to see how God brings people together to accomplish good that none of them could accomplish alone.
Perhaps that is why the unexpected gifts—the case of cooking oil, the 42 apple strudels, the generosity that arrives just when it is needed—mean so much. They remind us that we are not doing this work alone. We pray. We listen. We respond. And we trust God with the rest.
So the next time you see a Grocery Bag Days announcement, consider taking a bag. The next time you shop, consider setting aside something for a neighbor. If you own a business, consider how your resources might bless the community. If you have time to give, ask how you can help.
And perhaps most importantly, pray for the people who come to MTM—for their needs, their struggles, their hopes, and their encounters with the Lord.
Because the goal is not simply to distribute food. It is to become the hands and feet of Jesus in the world. The Holy Spirit is already at work at SJE. The question is whether we will recognize His invitation and join Him.
Be disciples who make disciples. Love God. Love others. Serve the poor. And let the Holy Spirit show us what can happen when we say yes.
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