SAN ANTONIO – Three volunteers at the Redeemer’s Praise Church spent Saturday morning without heat, but they were still working to cook more than 1,000 meals for people experiencing homelessness in San Antonio.
“It’s a miracle. I’m just so excited. I think that this is a miracle of God,“ Redeemer’s Praise Church Pastor Shetigho Nakpodia said. ”Everybody I spoke to said, ‘I’ll be there. I’ll come, I’ll come.‘ And they all showed up.”
Nakpodia said she organizes around 100 meals every Saturday morning for her neighbors who don’t have homes. Due to this week’s cold weather and the start of DreamWeek in San Antonio, Nakpodia and her team worked to serve more than 1,000 plates.
“It’s so easy to love San Antonio,” Nakpodia said.
Hundreds of people also stopped by Haven for Hope to donate coats and other winter clothes on Saturday.
“We service about 1,700 clients a day, so the need is great for winter gear items here during these cold months,” Haven for Hope multimedia specialist Nina Padilla said. “We had this Arctic blast come through, so we had to give all of the coats that we have already in stock out to our clients and to our growing outreach program. So this is a great opportunity for people to come and donate so that we can replenish our stock.”
The nonprofit, which has been at shelter capacity for the last three years, said its outreach team has spent the week working overnight to help anyone they see on the streets.
Offering help to people without homes includes giving food, water, warm clothes and transportation to other nonprofits that offered overnight warm shelter.
“All of the amazing nonprofits here in our city just do a wonderful job of communicating and helping everyone that needs either shelter or food or coats,” Padilla said.