The Main Thing

We at FISH Hospitality Pantries believe that everyone in our community should have enough to eat, and that we do justice when we share available food resources to try to ensure that no one in Knoxville goes hungry. Jesus said that when we feed the hungry we feed Him.

But providing food is not the Main Thing about the work of FISH Hospitality Pantries.

Our pantries are run by a diverse group of people representing different religious traditions, ethnicities, and economic circumstances (about a third of our volunteers first came for food assistance). Our pantries create a model of community that allows people to grow, learn, and enjoy one another rather than fearing differences. But as badly as models like this are needed, this isn't the Main Thing either.

The Main Thing is that our pantries provide an opportunity to be like God-to be united with Him-revealing his compassionate mercy to people who may be feeling the most isolated, the most judged (by themselves and others), the least cared about, and the most vulnerable to feeling defeated by life.

In our non-judgmental respect for the dignity and privacy of people is a power to heal and to free people from burdens, and to move us toward true relationship with one another. This is the Main Thing we are about.

We accompany food for the body with nourishment for an even more fundamental human need. Givers and receivers are united, for in helping to free others we are ourselves freed by the same spirit.