10-30-2026
Weekly Food Pantry Report

•
October 30, 2026

3 Minute Read

This week's food pantry served 81 families representing 263 individuals. We distributed 132 bags of food and welcomed 3 new families. We were blessed by the helping hands of 13 volunteers.

For the past three years, Companion Animal Care has donated dog and cat food every week to Advent and other community pantries, so that families never had to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their animals. Last night brought their final delivery as they scale back their mission. We are deeply grateful to Christine Evans, Linda Finley, and everyone who supported them in serving our us and our community. Providing for our neighbor's pets has become a special offering of our mission, and we will diligently look for new partners and offerings. Prayerfully consider adding canned or small bags of cat and dog food to your donations. Thank you!

On All Saints Sunday, we remember the faithful who have gone before us, and we hold onto a promise from Revelation: in God's future, "they will hunger no more, and thirst no more." Each Thursday evening, our pantry offers a small foretaste of that promise. A family drives away with food that can be stretched across several meals, and for a moment hunger loosens its grip. We're carrying on work handed down to us by generations of saints who fed their neighbors long before we did. Today we give thanks for them, and for the saints among us now: our volunteers, mission partners, and supporters, who keep that promise alive one car at a time.

"They will hunger no more, and thirst no more... for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." — Revelation 7:16-17 (NRSV)

Current needs: Boxed cereal, Canned fruit, Canned vegetables, Canned or small bagged cat and dog food

Thanksgiving Meal bags: 

  • Boxed stuffing mix
  • Instant mashed potatoes
  • Canned gravy or gravy packets/dry gravy mix
  • Canned green beans
  • Canned corn
  • Canned yams
  • Canned cranberry sauce
  • Boxed cornbread mix
  • One $25 Publix OR Walmart gift card to help a family purchase a turkey

National brands and store brands are welcome. Avoid glass jars if possible. The last day for donations is Tuesday, November 17. Donations may be dropped off during worship times or at the church office Monday through Thursday, 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Thank you for helping our neighbors share in the comfort and joy of Thanksgiving!

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October 30, 2026 • 3 Minute Read
10-30-2026
This week's food pantry served 81 families representing 263 individuals. We distributed 132 bags of food and welcomed 3 new families. We were blessed by the helping hands of 13 volunteers. For the past three years, Companion Animal Care has donated dog and cat food every week to Advent and other community pantries, so that families never had to choose between feeding themselves and feeding their animals. Last night brought their final delivery as they scale back their mission. We are deeply grateful to Christine Evans, Linda Finley, and everyone who supported them in serving our us and our community. Providing for our neighbor's pets has become a special offering of our mission, and we will diligently look for new partners and offerings. Prayerfully consider adding canned or small bags of cat and dog food to your donations. Thank you! On All Saints Sunday, we remember the faithful who have gone before us, and we hold onto a promise from Revelation: in God's future, "they will hunger no more, and thirst no more." Each Thursday evening, our pantry offers a small foretaste of that promise. A family drives away with food that can be stretched across several meals, and for a moment hunger loosens its grip. We're carrying on work handed down to us by generations of saints who fed their neighbors long before we did. Today we give thanks for them, and for the saints among us now: our volunteers, mission partners, and supporters, who keep that promise alive one car at a time. "They will hunger no more, and thirst no more... for the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of the water of life, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." — Revelation 7:16-17 (NRSV) Current needs: Boxed cereal, Canned fruit, Canned vegetables, Canned or small bagged cat and dog food Thanksgiving Meal bags: Boxed stuffing mix Instant mashed potatoes Canned gravy or gravy packets/dry gravy mix Canned green beans Canned corn Canned yams Canned cranberry sauce Boxed cornbread mix One $25 Publix OR Walmart gift card to help a family purchase a turkey National brands and store brands are welcome. Avoid glass jars if possible. The last day for donations is Tuesday, November 17. Donations may be dropped off during worship times or at the church office Monday through Thursday, 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Thank you for helping our neighbors share in the comfort and joy of Thanksgiving!
October 23, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
10-23-2026
God is our Fortress This week's food pantry served 77 families representing 255 individuals. We distributed 126 bags of food and welcomed 10 new families. We were blessed by the helping hands of 12 volunteers. We are collecting special Thanksgiving meal bags this year to be distributed the week before Thanksgiving in addition to our regular distribution. Please consider donating a meal or making a special cash donation so that our neighbors don't miss a week of food and can enjoy this special family meal. Thank you!!! We’re collecting these shelf-stable foods and gift cards: Boxed stuffing mix Instant mashed potatoes Canned gravy or gravy packets/dry gravy mix Canned green beans Canned corn Canned yams Canned cranberry sauce Boxed cornbread mix One $25 Publix OR Walmart gift card to help a family purchase a turkey National brands and store brands are welcome. Avoid glass jars if possible. The last day for donations is Tuesday, November 17. Donations may be dropped off during worship times or at the church office Monday through Thursday, 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Thank you for helping our neighbors share in the comfort and joy of Thanksgiving! On Reformation Sunday, many Lutherans will sing "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God," Martin Luther's hymn based on Psalm 46. The psalm opens with a promise: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." For many of our neighbors, trouble is a present reality: an empty pantry at home, a bill that can't wait, a worry that won't let go. God's help often arrives through ordinary hands, and every Thursday evening our pantry becomes a small refuge as groceries are handed into car after car. Our volunteers, mission partners, and supporters are part of that very present help, and we thank God for each of you. "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble." — Psalm 46:1 Current needs: Boxed cereal Canned fruit, Canned vegetables Attached below is a printable PDF for your reference. Please share among friends and within the community to help us meet this challenge. Thank you!Food Pantry Thanksgiving Shopping Guide
October 16, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
10-16-2026
Everyone is invited to the table This week's food pantry served 76 families representing 226 individuals. We distributed 117 bags of food and welcomed 2 new families. We were blessed by the helping hands of 12 volunteers. In what is likely the oldest of his letters, Paul writes to a young church he founded in Thessalonica, a busy port city in Greece. He begins the letter with thanks, telling them he remembers in prayer their "work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope." Those words describe our pantry ministry well. Faith shows up as work behind the scenes: food collected, unloaded, sorted, and packed each week. Love shows up as labor in our Thursday distribution: patience, kind words, and a moment of attention for a neighbor who needs it. Hope holds steady from week to week for us and our neighbors. Like Paul, we give thanks to God for our volunteers, mission partners, and supporters, whose faith, love, and hope keep this ministry going. You are remembered in our prayers. "We always give thanks to God for all of you and mention you in our prayers, constantly remembering before our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." — 1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 Current needs: Boxed cereal Canned fruit Spam
October 9, 2026 • 1 Minute Read
10-08-26
Everyone is invited to the table This week's food pantry served 80 families representing 250 individuals. We distributed 129 bags of food and welcomed 7 new families. We were blessed by the helping hands of 15 volunteers. In this week's Gospel, a king prepares a great banquet and sends his servants into the streets with simple instructions: invite everyone you find. No guest list, no conditions, just an open invitation to the table. Our pantry is a small taste of that feast. Every Thursday evening, as cars pull up, the invitation is the same for everyone: come, there is enough, and you are welcome here. We're grateful to the volunteers who carry that invitation out to every car, the mission partners who help fill the table, and the supporters whose gifts and prayers keep it set week after week. Thank you for helping us make room for all. "Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet." — Matthew 22:9 Current needs: Boxed cereal Canned tuna Spam
October 2, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
10-01-26
Holding our neighbors in our hearts This week's food pantry served 66 families representing 201 individuals. We distributed 103 bags of food and welcomed 4 new families. We were blessed by the helping hands of 11 volunteers. This week, I invite you to pause and hold our neighbors in need in your heart: the homeless, the hungry, and those struggling just to get through the week. Beyond those hardships, they carry the same hopes, fears, and everyday realities we all do. Please keep them in your prayers, and give thanks for the chance to make a difference in their lives. That chance is a gift we share with our volunteers, mission partners, and supporters, who help us meet Christ in our neighbors every Thursday evening. Let us pray together: Gracious God, hold close our neighbors who are hungry, without shelter, or carrying burdens we cannot see. Give them comfort, strength, and hope, as you continue to provide for their needs. Thank you for bringing us together, and for the gift of serving you by serving them. Make us generous, open our eyes, and keep our hearts ready to share. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. "Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me." — Matthew 25:40 Current needs: Boxed cereal Jelly, jam, preserves Canned pasta / pasta-meat (e.g., Campbell's Spaghettio, Chef Boyardee,...)
September 24, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
9-24-26
Thank you, Blue Sky Community Garden! This week's food pantry served 72 families representing 219 individuals. We distributed 112 bags of food and welcomed 4 new families. We were blessed by the helping hands of 16 volunteers. I'm excited this week to highlight a long-standing mission partner: Blue Sky Community Garden! For a decade, Blue Sky has grown and shared fresh, organic produce with local neighbors in need through Advent's Food Pantry, all while educating our community on sustainable gardening and healthy eating. We are so grateful for every volunteer who makes this ministry possible. This past Saturday, I had the privilege of joining them as they received a $5,000 Wellness Across the Lifetime Grant from the Sprouts Healthy Communities Foundation! This grant will help expand their crop yield, grow their volunteer base, and broaden their impact. Thank you, Blue Sky! Paul's letter to the Philippians holds up a simple but demanding picture of life together: look not only to your own interests, but to the interests of others. That's what a Thursday at our pantry looks like. Neighbors in the drive-through line are met by people who have set aside their evening to make sure someone else's family has enough. It isn't done for recognition. It comes from the same humility and care Paul saw in Christ, who emptied himself for the sake of others. We see that spirit in our volunteers who give their time, in our mission partners who share what they have, and in our supporters who give and pray without seeking anything in return. Thank you all, for so faithfully putting others first. "Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility regard others as better than yourselves. Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others." — Philippians 2:3-4 Current needs: Boxed cereal Jelly, jam, preserves Canned pasta / pasta-meat (e.g., Campbell's Spaghettio, Chef Boyardee,...)
September 17, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
9-17-26
Fresh Manna each day This week's food pantry served 83 families representing 263 individuals. We distributed 134 bags of food and welcomed 1 new family. We were blessed by the helping hands of 13 volunteers. As we close this week, I've been reflecting on the neighbors I've come to know at our pantry. What began as a weekly handoff of groceries has become something richer — conversations where people trust me with what's really going on in their lives. It's a rollercoaster of emotion: the joy of a birthday one week, the ache of a suffering loved one the next. In the wilderness, God gave manna fresh each morning — enough for that day, gathered in that moment. I've come to believe our Thursday mornings work the same way. God brings us together for that moment, and what we share is never only physical nourishment. I'm grateful for you: our volunteers, mission partners, and supporters who make these encounters possible week after week — you're providing far more than food. "When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance... Moses said to them, 'It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.'" — Exodus 16:14-15 Current needs: Boxed cereal Boxed Mac & Cheese Canned pasta / pasta-meat (e.g., Campbell's Spaghettio, Chef Boyardee,...)
September 10, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
9-10-26
Grace Doesn’t Keep Score This week's food pantry served 79 families representing 257 individuals. We distributed 127 bags of food and welcomed 3 new families. We were blessed by the helping hands of 17 volunteers. As we close this week, we're reminded that grace doesn't keep a running tally. When Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive, expecting a generous cap of seven, Jesus answered: seventy-seven times — in other words: stop counting... just keep extending grace. That's the same posture behind our pantry each Thursday: we don't track how many times a neighbor returns, or measure whether they've earned it — grace is given as often as it's needed. That same grace carries on through our volunteers, mission partners, and supporters who make this ministry possible — thank you for all you give this week! We want to acknowledge Grace Communion Melbourne Fellowship Group, faithful supporters of our pantry for many years, who will soon be closing their doors. We're deeply grateful for their generosity and hold them in prayer as they close this chapter. Their faithfulness is a reminder that grace, once given, keeps rippling outward long after — through every meal their gifts helped provide and every family they touched without ever meeting. "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" Jesus said, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times." — Matthew 18:21-22 Current needs: Boxed cereal Boxed Mac & Cheese Canned pasta / pasta-meat (e.g., Campbell's Spaghettio, Chef Boyardee,...)
September 3, 2026 • 2 Minute Read
9-3-26
God Shows up in the gathering This week's food pantry served 66 families representing 203 individuals. We distributed 106 bags of food and welcomed 1 new family. We were blessed by the helping hands of 13 volunteers. As we close this week, we're reminded that God shows up in the gathering — not just in grand moments, but in the ordinary act of people coming together for a shared purpose. Every Thursday, our pantry opens for distribution, and that promise plays out in real time: neighbors helping neighbors, hands passing bags of groceries, conversations that remind someone they're not alone. After weathering a month of rain and thunderstorms, we were grateful for clear skies this week, making distribution a little easier on everyone. Our volunteers, mission partners, and supporters each play a part in the gathering — some in distributing the harvest, others giving quietly behind the scenes, and still others lifting this ministry up in prayer. Every form of showing up matters, and we're grateful for all of yours this week. "For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them." — Matthew 18:20 Current needs: Boxed cereal Boxed Mac & Cheese Canned pasta / pasta-meat (e.g., Campbell's Spaghettio, Chef Boyardee,...)
August 28, 2026 • 1 Minute Read
8-28-26
Let Love Be Genuine This week's food pantry served 74 families representing 232 individuals. We distributed 117 bags of food and welcomed 4 new families. We were blessed by the helping hands of 9 volunteers. As we close this week, Paul's words to the Romans feel like they were written for a community like ours: "Let love be genuine... extend hospitality to strangers." That's exactly what happens every week when our doors open — genuine love, made real in a bag of groceries, a warm greeting, a moment of dignity for someone who needed it. This kind of hospitality doesn't happen on its own — it's carried week after week by the hands of our volunteers, sustained by the steady generosity of our mission partners, and made possible by supporters who believe in this mission. We see genuine love lived out in every one of you. "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good... Contribute to the needs of the saints; extend hospitality to strangers." — Romans 12:9, 13 Current needs: Boxed cereal Canned fruit
August 21, 2026 • 1 Minute Read
8-20-26
Showing Up, Rain or Shine This week's food pantry served 68 families representing 229 individuals. We distributed 111 bags of food and welcomed 3 new families. We were blessed by the helping hands of 10 volunteers. This week reminded us what it means to be built on solid rock. We weathered the storms to keep this week's pantry distribution running, and we're grateful no one who needed food went without. On top of that, earlier this week we earned a perfect score on our annual Second Harvest audit — clear evidence of the strong foundation our team and volunteers have built, week after week, through care and integrity. None of this happens without our volunteers who show up rain or shine, our mission partners who keep us stocked, and our supporters whose generosity makes it all possible. Thank you for helping us build something that holds firm, no matter what storms come. "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it." — Matthew 16:18 Current needs: Boxed cereal Canned fruit
August 14, 2026 • 1 Minute Read
8-13-26
Even crumbs can change everything This week's food pantry served 83 families representing 256 individuals. We distributed 131 bags of food and welcomed 1 new family. We were blessed by the helping hands of 12 volunteers. As we close this week, we're reminded of the woman in this Sunday's Gospel who refused to be turned away — who believed even the crumbs from God's table were enough to change everything. That's the kind of faith our pantry ministry tries to embody: no one turned away, no need too small to matter, and grace enough for everyone who comes to us in need. We're deeply grateful for our volunteers who show up week after week, our mission partners who make this ministry possible, and our supporters whose generosity keeps our table open. Thank you all for helping us live out that faith this week. "Then Jesus answered her, 'Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.' And her daughter was healed instantly." — Matthew 15:28 Current needs: Boxed cereal Canned soup