​                                                           HAND UP MINISTRIES, INC.

                                                                   FROM FARM TO FOOD TRAILER

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Nourishing Bodies. Building Skills. Creating Community. Giving a Hand Up.

At Hand Up Ministries, a meal can be much more than food on a plate.

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It can be an opportunity to work. A reason to gather. A lesson in healthier living. A moment of prayer. And for a man rebuilding his life after incarceration or homelessness, it can be another important step toward dignity, stability, and hope.

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That is the vision behind the Hand Up Ministries Food Trailer Project.

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IT BEGINS AT CAMPUS 1

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Hand Up Ministries is beginning a new trial program at Campus 1 on 59th Street in Oklahoma City with the acquisition of a food trailer that will help provide meals for residents.

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But this will not simply be a food trailer.

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It will become a place of employment, education, fellowship and service.

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Four Hand Up Ministries residents will have the opportunity to become the first in-house cooks, helping prepare meals for the men who call Campus 1 home.

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For these four residents, the opportunity means more than preparing food. It gives them responsibility, meaningful work, new skills and the pride of knowing that every meal they prepare is helping another man.

The resident who was once in need of a Hand Up now has an opportunity to give a Hand Up to someone else.

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FROM THE FARM TO THE TABLE

The vision reaches far beyond Campus 1.

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At Hand Up Ministries' Farm Campus in Wewoka, residents are working toward growing vegetables and fruit and raising chickens, ducks and other food sources that can eventually help supply nutritious ingredients for meals prepared for residents across the ministry's campuses.

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Imagine the complete circle:

Residents plant the seeds. Residents tend the gardens. Residents raise the food. Residents harvest it. Residents prepare the meals. And residents serve one another.

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What begins in the soil at the Farm Campus can ultimately become a warm meal placed before a fellow resident in Oklahoma City.

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It is more than farm-to-table. It is Hand Up to Hand Up.

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TEACHING MEN HOW TO LIVE HEALTHIER LIVES

Many men arriving at Hand Up Ministries have spent years simply trying to survive.

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Some have come directly from prison. Others have experienced homelessness. Some have never learned how to cook for themselves, plan nutritious meals or understand which foods can contribute to a healthier life.

Even after finding employment, limited incomes can make healthy eating difficult. Inexpensive processed and fast foods may become the easiest choice, while some residents may simply go without adequate meals.

Hand Up Ministries wants to help change that.

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The Food Trailer Project can introduce residents to balanced meals while teaching practical skills they can use for the rest of their lives - how to prepare vegetables, cook proteins, plan meals, reduce waste and make healthier choices on a limited budget.

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A second chance should include the opportunity to learn how to take care of yourself.

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A TABLE WHERE NO ONE HAS TO EAT ALONE

Something else has begun happening around the food trailer that cannot be measured simply by counting meals.

Men are gathering.

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They talk while waiting for food. They sit together. They laugh. They share stories about their day. A longtime resident may sit beside a man who arrived only days earlier.

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And before the meal, they can come together in gratitude and prayer.

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For a person who has spent years isolated, incarcerated, homeless, rejected or simply trying to survive, sitting down and sharing a meal with other people can be profoundly meaningful.

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The food trailer becomes a gathering place - a safe environment where residents can share food, conversation, friendship, fellowship and worship.

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A man who once wondered where his next meal would come from can find himself sitting among people who know his name.

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FOUR COOKS TODAY - MORE OPPORTUNITIES TOMORROW

Campus 1 is only the beginning.

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The long-term vision of Hand Up Ministries is to eventually acquire three additional food trucks or trailers, helping make meals accessible to residents throughout the ministry's four campuses and potentially assisting men arriving from prison or homelessness who need food, shelter and support.

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As the program grows, so can employment opportunities.

More residents can work in the gardens and agricultural program. More can help raise chickens and ducks. Others can harvest and transport food. Residents can learn food preparation, cooking, sanitation, inventory management and food-service operations.

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What started as a solution for feeding residents can become another pathway to purpose.

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A NEW BEGINNING SERVED ONE MEAL AT A TIME

Hand Up Ministries has always believed in offering a Hand Up, not a handout.

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The Food Trailer Project carries that philosophy forward in a very practical way.

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Yes, it feeds a hungry man. But it can also employ another man. It can teach him to cook. It can teach him about nutrition. It can give a farm resident responsibility for growing food. It can create friendships. It can bring men together in prayer.

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And perhaps most importantly, it can remind someone who has spent years feeling forgotten that he is once again part of a community.

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For some residents, something as ordinary as sitting at a table, sharing a freshly prepared meal and talking with friends represents something they may have thought they had lost forever: a normal life, a safe place, a sense of belonging, a purpose, and hope for tomorrow.

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This is only the beginning

From a seed planted at the Wewoka Farm Campus, to a resident preparing a meal at the Campus 1 food trailer, to the hand that serves that meal to another man beginning his second chance, the mission remains the same:

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GROWING FOOD. GROWING SKILLS. GROWING FAITH. GROWING HOPE.

One farm. One meal. One job. One resident. One second chance at a time.

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Hand Up Ministries, Inc.
A Hand Up, Not a Handout.
Together We Can.