Bedrock Church describes meeting the need for meals after Milton

While driving down South Tamiami Trail after Hurricane Milton, you might have glimpsed someone holding a "free meals" sign beside the road. 

If you were driving by Bedrock Church Sarasota, the idea came from the church's young people, according to Pastor Blake Harcup.

"Young people are amazing, and they just have such a heart," he said. 

They were just some of the volunteers who stepped up to help the church offer food to the community after Hurricane Milton. 

Harcup also noted the caring of the church community in Sarasota.

Churches throughout the area were also showing their dedication, with some others which helped in various capacities including Grace Community Church, Ascension Lutheran Church, Crosspointe, Evergreen Church, South Shore Community Church and The Way Church.

Harcup said thanks to the dedication of volunteers, it was able to provide 1,465 meals during the time it was offering the service, from Friday, Oct. 11 to Friday, Oct. 18. 

A hot spot

The decision to offer the hot meals happened organically, Harcup said. 

It began with one church staff member, Chris Stape, who decided to evacuate to the church, which has an industrial kitchen. 

After he decided to cook himself a meal, Stape told Harcup he would make some extra pasta to send to anyone in need.

The church made a post on social media and received 30 to 50 people on the property that night to eat or take home meals for others. 

"I think for us, it was such an organic thing, and I think that God really knew what people needed in this time, and when you don't have power, the comfort of a hot meal is really very powerful, I think," Harcup said. 

Courtesy image

After the church began to see the slow speed at which power was being restored, Harcup consulted with Stape about the idea of providing hot meals until the majority of power was restored in the city and county.

The next day, the church made the call for volunteers. While it estimated 50 to 100 people would come per night, the demand “grew exponentially,” Harcup said. 

Over the seven nights that the church fed the public, from Friday, Oct. 13 to Friday, Oct. 20, a total of 1,465 meals were given out.

Stape would go shopping at about 9 a.m. to purchase all of the needed supplies, while between 20 and 30 volunteers arrived each day to help, many of them coming early, to help with the preparations. 

Leftover food would be saved, to serve the public at lunch the next day, or to be sent elsewhere in the community. 

However, Harcup said he was glad the church could offer more than meals.

“I was really proud of our church, because not only did they make meals, but some of our volunteers just sat down with people and talked with them while, while they were eating,” he said. “And sometimes what you need in moments like we just went through is not only a hot meal, but a listening ear.”

Currently, he said, the church is waiting to see who reaches out with further needs, at the same time he is encouraged by the work that has been done. 

“I think that probably one of the things that made me most encouraged by this whole moment, was that we really pulled together as a community and showed our community that we love them and care for them, and so many churches are doing that right now, and I think that's such an encouraging thing to see, especially in the times that we're living in where there's so much division and all this going on. To be able to come together in a time of need was really powerful and encouraging.”