40 Million Pounds of Food Collected and Distributed
Domestically!

Friend Ships
Storehouse One

Only heaven knows all that is accomplished for the "Kingdom" each week with the food distributed through Storehouse One! Because of our experience over these many years, we believe that food is one of the most effective evangelistic tools one can use!

To give you an idea of the "fruit" of StoreHouse One, here are just a few anecdotes from over the years:

Our Directors were visiting a church when a woman approached them and asked if they were involved with the Storehouse One program. When they said yes, she began to sincerely thank them for helping her feed her family during a very rough time when she was out of work. It was incredible to her, she said, that not only would someone give her food without charge but also would care enough to take the time to deliver it! The best part, the woman continued, was when the people who delivered the food asked her if there was anything they could pray about with her. The woman cried with great emotion as she shared how touched she was by the love and care shown to her.

A couple began working with Storehouse One about 11 years ago by dedicating their Saturdays to prepare food for distribution. Then one weekend, we had a call from a single Mom with 8 children who lived in a very rough neighborhood. She needed help to feed her family. The couple volunteered to deliver her food. Now, 10 years later, they are still ministering to this household and the surrounding neighborhood. Over the years, they have been involved with 45 people in this one family alone and have witnessed many transformations in their lives. This couple does not stop with just delivering the food but they take part in many areas of this family's life and even hold Bible Studies for the neighborhood children!

One elderly lady called needing food delivered. She was more than 90 years old, lived alone and was no longer able to grocery shop for herself. A man from a local church began to pick up food at Storehouse One and deliver it regularly to this lady. As the weeks went by, he talked to her about God and explained many things in the Bible. Even at her age, the woman said she had never been taught these things and was so grateful to the volunteer for helping her to understand God in the final years of her life.

One Christmas, we were distributing toys in addition to food and the lines to receive the gifts were three hours long. One man in line caught our attention. He was well dressed, quiet and reserved. We found out later that he was a shipyard worker who had recently been laid off. When he had waited his turn and arrived at the desk to request toys for his three children and food for Christmas dinner, he quietly asked, "Why do you do this? Is it a promotional thing? Do I have to promise to buy something?" "This is the Lord's birthday," the volunteer at the counter replied. "The Great Giver. It's the kind of party that He likes to give, one where the presents belong to you." The man whispered, his voice breaking with emotion, "I thought He'd forgotten me. I thought He didn't care." The man picked up his packages and made his way back into the lobby where he set them on the floor and in front of hundreds of people, dropped to his knees, giving heartfelt thanks to God.

A homeless, alcoholic man showed up in torn and dirty clothes to receive food from a park distribution of food which was picked up at Storehouse One. He solemnly listened to the service held at the site and when it was over, came forward to renew his relationship with Jesus. Within a year, this man was helping to run a rehabilitation center for homeless men and women. Today, 12 years later, he continues to use his life to benefit others by helping people make the transition back from life on the streets.

A woman opened the door to receive the food she had called in to request. The couple who brought the food were kind and offered to pray with her about any problems in her life. She was touched and prayed with them. As time went by, the couple returned each week to bring food, talk and pray. A friendship developed and soon she confessed to them that their visit was the highlight of her week. One of the major reasons she liked them to come was because they "talked nice" to her. Her world was so harsh and hard that the care and respect they showed her was an unusual treat for her to experience.

A man came faithfully to Storehouse One each Saturday to bag groceries even though his feet were almost crippled with pain. Still, he wanted to serve others and would spend hours on his aching feet each week to prepare the food for distribution. One week, volunteers from churches of many denominations gathered around this faithful man and prayed for healing. The man agreed to receive the prayer even though his church taught that God does not supernaturally heal now-a-days. The next week he returned to declare to all that God had healed his feet, he no longer had any pain and his doctor had reversed his decision to perform surgery!

For several months, a Storehouse One volunteer from a local church delivered food, talked and prayed with an elderly women who lived alone. One day as he approached on his weekly visit to her house, a man who lived next door, came to intercept the man before he reached the door. "What are you doing to this woman?", he asked. The volunteer replied, "What do you mean? I'm just bringing her food." "That's all?", the man asked. "Well, I visit with her and we pray together", said the volunteer. "Ah," the neighbor responded. "That must be it. You may not know this but this woman has been the most unpleasant person. She is known on the block as a very difficult neighbor but since you have been coming here, she has completely changed. I just had to know what you are doing". The next week, the neighbor showed up at "Storehouse One" to help us prepare and bag groceries.

Crew members of "Friend Ships" were visiting a church one day that participates in Storehouse One. When the pastor asked if any of the congregation had anything to share, a man stood up and with a very soft, shaky voice and fighting back the tears in his eyes said, "For 20 years I've sat on this pew and didn't understand how I could be of service to God. What physical good could I be to His Kingdom? Year after year, I had heard the pastor say that we should do something but I didn't know where, when or how, just that I should. No one else seemed to have the road map either. Then a few weeks ago, I heard about helping to prepare food at Storehouse One to help people in need. I went there and when they needed someone to take the names of a couple of families who needed deliveries of food, I volunteered. Now, I've committed to bringing food to these families each week. What I want to say is that . . . now my life has more value. I can give back some of the love God gives me. I can be of service to my God."

Not too long ago, a Storehouse One volunteer came into the office with a check for $200. The deliverer was bringing food to a neighbor when he was stopped by this young man to give him this check. It was from a man who had been a recipient of the food five years earlier when he had been a student and on hard times, financially. Now he was doing well but had never forgotten the kindness shown him in his time of need!

Here are just some of the current ways that Storehouse One food is being distributed:

Many churches pick up food from Storehouse One, hold services at their churches or public parks and afterwards, distribute supplies to people in need of food. An example of one such facility is the "Dream Center" in downtown Los Angeles. This wonderful ministry is a 1500 room hospital that has been converted to a large scale and very effective Christian outreach center that reaches out to people in just about every kind of trouble and houses multi-national church services in several different languages. Other volunteers pick up food from Storehouse One and deliver it to prisons in Mexico for the prisoners. As is typical in developing countries, if a prisoner doesn't have family or friends to bring him food, he doesn't eat. Food is also distributed at rehabilitation centers for men, unwed mothers' homes, battered women's shelters, homeless shelters, retirement homes, hot feeding programs, door-to-door for needy families and individuals, to international married students at Christian colleges and on street corners in very "rough" neighborhoods. These are just a few of the many ways that God is using this food each week to touch lives and hearts.

There are several ways to become involved with Southern California Storehouse One's Food Distribution. Here are some of them:

1. Volunteers are needed to sort and package fresh foods and help load the vehicles of the organizations receiving food from our warehouse in Wilmington (the port area of Los Angeles). Help is needed throughout the week and especially on Saturdays, when we have our major food distribution.

2. If you are in the retail or wholesale food business and would like to cut down on waste and see your food distributed to the needy, call 1-310-830-4433 to discuss coordinating the distribution of your surplus product.

3. Trucks, pallet jacks and fuel resources are always needed.

Please feel free to contact us for more information or email Storehouse One.