New truck needed to continue body and soul food pantry in Berlin
For years, members of a Lutheran mission congregation in the Berlin suburb of Marzahn collected surplus groceries from supermarkets and distributed food to needy Germans. But since their refrigeration truck was destroyed in a fire this fall, the group has struggled to continue this important outreach.
“Without this ministry, about 400 families each month will either go without enough food or will go without much of the fresh fruit, vegetables, milk and cheese products that this food pantry provides,” said Deaconess Rachel Mumme, a deployed LCMS World Relief and Human Care (WR-HC) staff member based in Berlin. “The food pantry ensures that those families who live in this part of Marzahn do not have to go hungry.”
In October, WR-HC provided a $1,000 emergency grant to the Berlin-Marzahn congregation, the youngest mission congregation of the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church, an LCMS partner church. Although the grant provides only a small portion of the total needed to buy another truck, it adds to the fund-raising effort spearheaded by Rev. Hartwig Neigenfind, who started the mission congregation in 2000.
To keep the food pantry operating out of the church, the congregation rents a refrigeration truck. But members cannot afford to continue such an expensive arrangement indefinitely, Mumme says. They are eager to replace the truck, which burned while parked overnight on a Berlin street in a fire that remains under investigation.
In addition to giving away several tons of fruits, vegetables, bread and milk products each week, the congregation also invites people who visit the food pantry to worship with them and offers opportunities for pastoral care. Appropriately, these German Lutherans call their ministry Laib und Seele – “bread and soul” in German.
“We talk a good deal about the body of Christ – that if one member is hurting, then the others hurt with it,” Mumme said. “Knowing about this congregation and the challenges they have gives us an opportunity to care for this member, through our prayers, with our gifts, and, for some, even in person. Caring for those in need is simply a part of who we are as Christians. The sufferings of others are ours, and our suffering theirs.”
To learn more about the Berlin-Marzahn mission congregation, contact Mumme at rachel.mumme@lcms.org.
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