Every Tuesday during the school year, you can count on seeing Sara at Lubbock Impact for our weekly Community Meal.
For nearly two years, she has faithfully served with our Community Meal ministry, greeting familiar faces, lending a hand wherever needed, and building relationships with staff, volunteers, and participants alike. Serving has become such a meaningful part of her weekly routine that when summer arrived and First Baptist Church stepped in to lead our Community Meals for the season; Sara wasn’t quite ready to stay away. Instead, she simply found another place to serve.
This summer, you’ll find her on Monday evenings helping with our Food and Hygiene Pantry and Clothing Closets. Some nights she is checking participants in for the pantry. Other nights, like this past week, she is helping in the Men’s Clothing Closet while another volunteer is away. Whatever the need is, Sara is eager to jump in.
Her decision speaks volumes. Lubbock Impact has become more than a place to volunteer. It has become a place where she feels connected, known, and needed.
The truth is, Sara isn’t the only one. Every week, we watch people walk through our doors seeking practical assistance and discover something more.
One father first came to Lubbock Impact looking for a little extra help putting food on the table for himself and his son. As the weeks passed, his son made friends through Children’s Ministry, and he was invited to join a Men’s Bible Study. What began as a place to receive support became a place where relationships began to grow.
We see it in our senior adults as well. Our monthly Senior Lunches once welcomed around twenty guests each month. Today, nearly fifty people gather around the tables because they keep inviting friends, neighbors, and acquaintances to join them. They have found a place where they feel comfortable, welcomed, and valued, and they want others to experience it too.
We see it on ordinary mornings when participants stop by for a cup of coffee and conversation, even when they don’t need a specific resource that day. We see it online when participants celebrate one another’s victories through comments and encouragement on social media. We see it when someone returns after being absent for a few weeks and is immediately greeted with, “It’s so good to see you! We’ve missed you.”
We see it in our volunteers, too.
One young volunteer, Steeley, is spending her final summer before heading off to college serving at least three days each week at Lubbock Impact. Every time her name appears on the volunteer schedule, we smile, knowing we’ll get to spend time together.
Another volunteer, who has recently been unable to serve because of health concerns, sent a message apologizing for missing her volunteer shift. In it, she shared, “I love what y’all allow me to do there! I love the people that I serve with and I love the participants!”
Those words capture something we experience every day.
While food, clothing, healthcare, and resources are important parts of what we do, they are not the whole story. At its heart, ministry is about people. It’s about learning names and remembering stories. It’s about asking how a grandchild’s baseball game went or following up on a recent doctor’s appointment. It’s about praying together, sharing meals together, celebrating milestones, and walking alongside one another through difficult seasons.
One of the most beautiful moments we witness happens when someone comes through our doors for the first time. Often, they arrive carrying a heavy burden, unsure where to turn next. As conversations begin and resources are shared, you can almost see the weight start to lift from their shoulders as they realize they are not alone.
That sense of belonging doesn’t happen overnight. It is built through countless conversations, shared meals, prayers, handshakes, hugs, and moments of simply showing up for one another.
In a world where loneliness is common and a genuine connection can be hard to find; we are grateful that Lubbock Impact is more than a place people visit.
By God’s grace, it is a place where people belong.