rescues food & souls


he brought a box of day-old bread from an organization that distributes it throughout Southeastern Wisconsin. If not bread, why not more? he wondered. Just One More (www.jomministry.org) was born. Capper rescued leſtover church meals and channeled


them to Repairers of the Breach, the city’s day ministry to the homeless. Ten came the day when a community group gathered at St. Matthew served food from Saz’s, a local restaurant known for its barbecue ribs. Chris Manke, a pastor of St. Matthew, alerted Capper to the mountains of leſtovers. Soon the popular caterer was supplying Just One More with 100 gourmet meals a week, which increases to 300 during its busy months (April-October). Capper and his cohorts (Mark Petersen and Jim


Bowen coordinate the bulk meal program; Larry Jurss the family meal program) then convinced other cater- ers, grocery stores, bakeries and wholesalers to donate what they would otherwise throw away. More than 100 volunteers collect food from various


vendors, repackage some into family sized portions (plus bread, sweets, produce), and designate the rest for nutritious community meals served at city church sites. More than 76,000 people were served last year (1,500 tasty, nutritious meals per week). “And we never spent a penny on food,” Capper said. “We haven’t even scratched the surface. How much more can we get?” Capper, who doles out statistics and gospel like a


salesman, will tell you that 40 percent of the nation’s food (from restaurants and homes) gets thrown away each year. “If we rescued 15 percent of it, we’d feed 25 million people,” he said. “Why do we throw away so much food? It’s too much trouble or we think food can’t legally be given away.” But the 1996 Good Samaritan Act changed that,


enabling nonprofits to receive vendor food without risk of liability. And aſter six years, Just One More has never received a complaint regarding donated food. “Tis is delicious food going to someone who needs


it—to someone who is ignored, forgotten, addicted. It is a giſt from God that had been thrown away,” Capper said. “But this ministry belongs in the city. It is a city ministry. Tey wouldn’t come to the suburbs, but


they’ll come here.” “Here” is Redeemer Lutheran Church, near Mar-


quette University in the heart of Milwaukee. When she was new to her call at Redeemer a year


ago, Lisa Bates-Froiland looked out the window to see Marquette students serving soup and sandwiches on the sidewalk to the homeless. “Why not serve from inside?” the pastor asked. Bates-Froiland contacted Just One More and now


meals are served six days a week in the church’s spa- cious multipurpose room. It’s also the new location of Just One More, which needed more space. Commercial refrigerators stand ready to receive donated food.


Transformation into deliciousness Petersen, a retired attorney and “foodie,” delights in talking about donated items Chef Amari Jones has transformed into deliciousness, served by Marquette students clamoring to volunteer. Duck shanks and gal- lons of bloody Mary mix used for chili and Italian sau- sages. Once the “challenge of the week” was 11 pounds of tofu. “He can cook,” Petersen said of Jones. But this isn’t about suburbanites cooking for and


donating to city folks, the leaders are clear to say. Tis is a collaborative effort: 13 ELCA congregations, three organizations and 13 businesses (donors). “We’re feeding the poor, but we’re also sharing the


gospel,” Capper said. “God is using food as that avenue. We’re not just coming in serving food, we’re forming relationships.” But the benefit is even broader than feeding the


hungry and bolstering church outreach. Keeping food from landfills is a financial and environmental savings. And when the most vulnerable have food, it’s believed that crimes of necessity decrease. Tat is no small thing in what the U.S. Census calls the country’s most segregated inner city, where this ministry’s tagline appears to fit: “Rescuing food, helping souls.” 


Author bio: Sevig (left) is a section editor of The Lutheran. Eileen “Petey” Lund, a


member of St. Matthew Lutheran Church, Wauwatosa, Wis., contributed to this story.


April 2014 33


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