Lake Forest Shares is a community of friends. The emphasis is relationship and knowing our neighbor. We share friendship and food weekly with neighbors who live within 7 miles of our church. We are friends and neighbors who share life and resources. Everything we do at Lake Forest Shares is about our friendship. We treat others as we would like to be treated, love as we would like to be loved. As such, we at Lake Forest Shares have several core values.
1. Good Food
We only share food we would serve to our families. Our food is nutritionally dense, including: fresh fruits, vegetables, organic meats, cheeses, eggs, dairy, and artesian breads. We honor our friendship by sharing healthy foods.
2. Gleaned Gifts
We share food which would become cast offs. Our food has a stamped “sell by date” but still has viability of 3-4 weeks left in it. In the Bible book Leviticus, God introduces leaving gleaned fruit and grain in the field for those how have need or are migrants, so they can collect it to eat. At Lake Forest Shares we rescue food and share it in like manner, gleaning edible and highly valuable food to share with our friends. Not only does this address families who experience food insecurity, but it loves the land as well, keeping food from becoming waste.
3. Gracious Sharing
We share with out reserve. We do not ask for an intake form or income requirements. As friends, we offer freely what we have received freely, and share without judgement or questions. We bring the food to homes to reduce the shame of having to come to a food pantry or public area. We also share in prayer, offering our hearts to one another.
If you’d like to learn more how to participate or your family would like to receive a box, follow the link below!
If you don’t have time to serve but still want to help, we welcome donations of nutritionally significant groceries (some examples include peanut butter with no sugar added, pure honey, whole oats, rice and beans in cans or dried, whole grain granola, energy/granola bars with no added sugars, dried fruits, turkey jerky, nuts, seeds) purchased by you or collected from your neighbors/colleagues. You can leave these on Cindy’s front porch anytime of the day.
