The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Wenang in the city of Manado, Indonesia has found the right ingredients to start a new and exciting ministry - Drop and Grab. The ingredients are location, circumstance, and the church members. This is how it works. The Wenang Church is located near a public transportation hub where people come and go. The pandemic caused people to lose their jobs and the ability to provide for themselves even a decent meal every day. The church members of Wenang Seventh-day Adventist Church proposed to reach out to this community by providing free lunch packs every Friday. They would visit the church to DROP food items they want to share, and the church would make these food items available for GRABS to the public.
About 70 to 80 individuals, mostly public transportation drivers, passengers, and store owners flock to the church every Friday to receive their free meals. The number is expected to grow as word about the fee meals are passed around.
“The people started to acknowledge our church in the neighborhood. Some of the people who are not aware of the existence of the church became curious and interested, said Peter Tappy church leader of Wenang Adventist Church. “The church is not just a building but the people inside doing something good and driven by compassion towards their neighbors,” added Tappy.
The idea of Drop and Grab is not only to provide food but also to extend a ray of sunshine to everyone who comes to receive his or her free meal. The objective is to share happiness and positivity with the community in every pack that they receive.
“It is my prayer to always encourage our church members to do something. It’s not enough for us to just attend church. We need to do something,” said Pastor Alvianus Saleppang, church pastor.
“We need to reach out to the community who are needy and suffering… We cannot feed everyone in Manado city, but at least we can feed a few people on that day and give them a little taste of happiness in this sinful world,” Saleppang added.
Edward Rodriguez with additional reporting from Alviannus Saleppang