The Holy Grill Mobile Feeding Ministry - St. Nicholas Episcopal Church’s Signature Ministry
A mission that began eight years ago has grown into a highly efficient mobile kitchen, licensed and fully-equipped to meet the needs of a multitude of food insecure individuals and families in Broward County as well as support first responders and victims in the wake of natural disasters, providing food, ice and water to affected areas.
The most recent acquisition of a new, state-of-the-art food truck, dubbed Holy Grill 2.0, with an impressive lithium battery power plant, has upgraded the mobile feeding ministry launched in 2016. Since that time over 67,000 hot, sprit-lifting meals have been served to the unhoused, unemployed, working poor and food insecure families with children. There is no religious test to be served. And now, Holy Grill 2.0 has doubled the cooking capacity.
How the Journey Began
Since the late 1980s, St. Nicholas’ outreach programs have embraced the needs of the unhoused and extended to St. Laurence Chapel Homeless Day Shelter, which was located nearly seven miles from the church. Connecting the good works of these two separate facilities created an additional hardship for those being served as their only option to receive a meal was to walk all those miles, contributing adversely to their already compromised medical conditions. To close the gap between locations and reduce that burden, a mobile feeding option was needed.
“Our parish administrator at that time was a business partner to an artist and they would attend art fairs and festivals around the state on weekends,” said Fr. Mark Andrew. “One Monday he came to me and said he had seen a ‘ghastly green’ food truck for sale. By divine coincidence, Vestry was meeting the very next night. I presented the idea of a mobile feeding ministry and, without any earthly idea how we were going to pay for it, the Vestry stepped out in faith and approved. By Friday of that same week, I was towing the trailer back to St. Nicholas. Some feared we would bankrupt our little church, but the Spirit of Almighty God was clearly at work, emboldening our servant-leaders on Vestry, inspiring volunteers and donors, and blessing our efforts. And a few months later, this legacy rig launched The Holy Grill Feeding Ministry. We had the trailer wrapped and it went into operation in September 2016.”
We have received grants from Holman Automotive, the Pulte Family Charitable Foundation, Episcopal Charities of South Florida, the Order of Saint John of Jerusalem (Knights Hospitaller), the Brotherhood of Saint Gregory, and various churches and private individuals.
Camerata Di Magdalena - Helping the Homeless One Concert at a Time
In 2017, Camerata di Magdalena adopted the Holy Grill and began offering benefit concerts around Broward and South Palm Counties with all proceeds going to the Holy Grill mobile feeding ministry. Camerata has raised over $40,000 for us and continues to raise money every year.
For more information about this remarkable volunteer youth chamber orchestra:
In addition to grants and private donations, we raise money for this ministry by acting as a food vendor at regional festivals. Our first festival was at the Florida Keys Celtic Fest in January 2017. That's when we began to develop our festival menu of Guinness-Battered Fish 'n Chips, Bangers 'n Mash, Scotch Eggs, and Shepherd's Pie. It was there that the Holy Grill was discovered for our delicious Scotch Eggs and invited to be a vendor at the Fort Lauderdale Scottish Festival and Highland Games. Our festival food is now so popular that we had to set-up deep fryers and other supplemental work stations outside the original food trailer, and still we could not keep up with customer demand as we sought to raise money for our life-giving ministries – so the need for a new food truck. All festival sales revenue benefits the mobile feeding ministry.
Volunteers are always welcome, needed and appreciated. We welcome people of any faith and no faith, as long as they have compassionate hearts. If you are able to donate time to this ministry, please contact Bob Reid, Director of the Holy Grill, sexton@stnicholasfl.org
Fundraising is an ongoing effort and, if you would like to make a financial contribution to the Holy Grill Mobile Feeding Ministry, please click or scan this QR code:
