Photo by Julianna Leopold 

FLOWERY BRANCH—Every Wednesday, volunteers at Prince of Peace Church gather in two classrooms around 8 a.m. to transform 150 loaves of bread into more than 1,200 sandwiches. Down the hall, the kitchen bustles as cooks at the stove prepare as many as 300 hot meals. 

What started as a small effort at a parishioner’s home during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic has grown into a weekly ministry that not only provides food for people facing hunger but also fosters connections among those who prepare meals. 

“I love to cook, so I can serve people. I can do something I enjoy and give back to the community,” said Charles Tobey, who has helped here with his wife, Mariana, for four years. “It all added up to good.” 

Some 80 members have joined the Cross Bearers ministry to serve people who are homeless.  

“Thank you all for your servant’s heart and gift of time,” says Daniel Lefter, who co-directs the ministry with Sinead Stampfli, speaking to the workers on a recent Wednesday. 

Ruth Kelly, longtime Cross Bearers volunteer and parishioner at Prince of Peace Church, prepares plates of food for the guests of Good News at Noon in Gainesville. Every Wednesday the volunteers make food to serve 16 different shelters in the surrounding area. Photo by Julianna Leopold

An outreach of the parish, the ministry aims to serve families and individuals in need in its backyard of Hall County. This north Georgia county is known as a recreational hotspot with Lake Lanier attracting millions of visitors. But nonprofit leaders say that away from the lakefront are residents needing support.  

About 11 percent of the county lives below the poverty line and close to 30,000 people are food insecure, which means a household doesn’t always have reliable access to the food they need to live a healthy life, according to the Feeding America website.  

Ministry volunteers see beyond a weekly duty, instead feeling the effort draws them closer to their faith. The work of feeding the hungry is paused so members can take part in daily Mass before returning to prepare hundreds of meals.  

“Jesus’ word is ‘love your neighbor.’ And this, to me, falls under the category of love your neighbor,” said Charles Tobey, 62, who retired from a career in the transportation industry. “If I could do a little bit to make life a little bit better for somebody else out there, then it’s  just great.” 

For Lynn Tran, 67, the group offered more than a place to serve. The people welcomed her and her tears as she grieved the loss of her husband. 

“I cried all the time. They became my family,” said Tran, pausing before tackling the dishes piling up in the sink.  

With support from Cross Bearers, she’s found the renewal and confidence to take part in more parish ministries, from Bible study to hospitality.  

Mark Peterson, a longtime Cross Bearers volunteer and a Knight of Columbus, loads up his car with sandwiches and hot meals for three different shelters the morning of June 4. The volunteers split up to serve 16 different shelters in the surrounding area of Prince of Peace Church. Photo by Julianna Leopold

Partnering with others 

More than a dozen organizations that aid families, women and veterans benefit from the Cross Bearers ministry. Organizers are especially encouraged with how the work brings together Christians across denominational lines. Catholics work side by side with people from other faith traditions, united to see the face of Christ in people struggling with addiction or mental health challenges.  

One of the ministry’s partners is Good News at Noon, a center where anyone can eat a hot meal. Community members have access to a computer lab for GED training, along with a laundry room to clean clothes, and showers. The organization also runs a residential program for formerly homeless individuals. 

Each Wednesday volunteers from Cross Bearers prepare meals for about 75 guests with enough for leftovers. Program residents serve the trays to diners and later help with clean-up.  

Ken Gossage is the nonprofit’s director and said the Prince of Peace Church volunteers are dependable in helping his clients. Gossage has noticed how the Cross Bearers volunteers come with an open heart. The volunteers enjoy chatting with guests and learning about them, he said.  

“Their food is the best. They put a lot of TLC into it,” said Gossage. 

Cross Bearers was born out of challenge. Then-pastor Father Eric Hill encouraged the parishioners to support local organizations with food instead of making the weekly, 45-mile drive to downtown Atlanta.  

Sinead Stampfli took up the task of reaching out to local nonprofits. She admits she wasn’t aware of the depth of the local needs, even though she’s been sitting in the church pews here for three decades.  

People were so enthusiastic about the group’s offer to help. 

“I felt like I was offering everybody a bar of gold. The response was awesome,” she said. 

As a person of faith, Stempfli, 67, said the work has been full of what she calls “holy moments.” For her, it is like “(God) says, ‘Let me just show you a world that maybe you need to see a little closer.’”   

Over the past five years, she said the ministry has grown from the ground up, helped by faith when people could not see a path.  

Daniel Lefter, co-director of Prince of Peace Cross Bearers, sports his leather vest with a Chi-Rho symbol in the middle surrounded by Cross Bearers patches. Photo by Julianna Leopold

“We’ve had holy moments in that you just can’t make up this stuff. Although we do worry— and we do as humans—we are so covered,” she said of the Holy Spirit’s work and God’s providence.  

Daniel Lefter, 61, moved to Georgia almost 10 years ago to work at Emory University’s power plant facilities. Lefter started attending Prince of Peace Church after a co-worker invited him. During the pandemic, before Cross Bearers launched, he’d deliver sandwiches to Atlanta.  

Loving our neighbor has challenges, but “with peacefulness, love and mercy we find working with our church members and other organizations in our community we can truly make a difference one day and one person at a time,” he said.  

The program has taken off. It surpassed many of its goals for the year to reach more people. The volunteers have made some 46,000 sandwiches, more than 8,500 hot meals and expanded outreach to five additional partners to include 16 shelters. The parish has contributed more than $40,000 to the effort, and now ministry leaders are looking at grants and other funding sources to help the ministry grow.  

This is “God’s business,” Lefter said, allowing people to “focus on solutions rather than problems and doing small things well.”