ABOUT US

Thank you for your interest in Friends.

The Friends in the Desert Foundation is an charitable organization which serves hot meals to homeless or otherwise needy individuals six days a week in the kitchen and parish hall of St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church located in downtown Henderson. It all started informally with a few members of St. Timothy’s feeding a few hungry people in the kitchen, but grew rapidly as the word spread. As it grew, the need for a more formal, more widely supported organization became apparent. It was incorporated as an IRS Code 501 (c) (3) foundation in 1998.

In 2002, eighteen faith or other groups, including individuals, families, Girl Scout & Boy Scout Troops, High School & Junior High students, area service organizations and Firemen volunteered to cook and serve dinners to our guests.

Fortunately the volunteers and volunteer organizations making a difference through Friends have continued to grow. In the third quarter of 2002 alone, 34 different congregations or groups prepared and served a total of 5,323 hot meals over 79 days. Also during the 3rd quarter of 2002, 966 sack lunches were served over 13 days.

Some volunteer groups serve weekly, some monthly, and some regularly but send a different crew each time. Our trustees and officers are drawn from several backgrounds and denominations.

We try to serve "the least of these, our brothers" with a dignity that they otherwise don’t see. We provide seated meals for between 65 and 90 persons a day 6 days per week. We also provide food for those days we are "dark" in the kitchen. Our stated goal is that "Nobody should go hungry in the fastest growing city in the USA."

Volunteers, who receive not one penny for their many hours of work, accomplish all of this. Local restaurants and supermarkets provide us with foodstuffs that are surplus or about to expire. For several years we have watched as our Lord has provided us with food, volunteers, supplies and operating funds. We have truly been blessed!

The Friends in the Desert Foundation, Inc. is organized exclusively for charitable purposes within the meaning of section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

During 2001 and 2002, we’ve seen ever increasing numbers of guests show up for dinner. We believe that this is a result of the depressed local economy, with layoffs in the service sector and a reduction in the need for day labor. In 2000, we typically served 45-65 meals a day…throughout 2001 and 2002, servings have grown to 70-90 meals per day.

Economic downturns weigh most upon those who can barely make it even under good circumstances and Friends is seeing more working poor show up to eat. They were doing O.K. until their hours of work were cut back. Now their paycheck runs out before the month does. Double digit increases in the daily average number of hot meals served is expected to continue (the daily average number of hot meals served during the third quarter of 2002 was 17% greater than the third quarter of 2001).

The following statistics for 2001 and 2002 show the extent of the program:

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