The Words of the Inomaki Family |
In January 1985, Florida church members traveled to Atlanta, Georgia, to pick up four new trucks to help in food distribution in four major cities of Florida: Tampa, Tallahassee, Jacksonville, and Orlando. In Miami, where I work, we had already begun food collection and distribution using one Chevy truck since September 1984. Having learned from these experiences in Miami, four of our brothers took the trucks out to pioneer the other cities of Florida.
The Miami area is a rich truck farming center, and during the winter months it provides the Eastern seaboard with agricultural products. During the winter we received abundant donations from the fruit and vegetable packing houses and the local food bank in Miami, so we were able to share with the other four cities as they were getting their programs started. As spring arrived the harvesting began in more northern areas of Florida, so each city could share with the others in turn. Each program developed its own specialty. All together we collected and shared muffins, tomatoes, green beans, green peppers, yellow squash, watermelons, potatoes, and other vegetables. Most of the distribution was done through churches, through NCCSA chapters, or through other charitable organizations. One key to our success has been the sharing and open cooperation between all the members working throughout the state.
In Miami we operate as Shared Action, Inc. As in the other four cities in Florida, we deliver food to local churches each week. Unification Church members contact ministers and introduce the food program to them. The membership of our organization has been growing at a fast clip, so it is very important for us to diversify and find more and more food sources. Sometimes at the beginning of the week we don't know what we can give, but somehow each week Heavenly Father guides us to good-hearted people who provide the necessary food donations.
In Jacksonville, one brother did food collection work alone for the first six months. With a letter of explanation written by his city leader, he would go out with the truck to possible food donors, present the letter, and occasionally receive a few boxes of this and that. Then one day we were all surprised when he returned with a 40,000-pound donation of potatoes, which we shared among the five cities. That was just the beginning. Once the packing houses got to know him, he became "Mr. Potato" for all our distribution programs in Florida.
At the beginning of the summer, all the members working with Shared Action from the five cities in Florida met together for our first quarterly meeting. We wrote a manual explaining our activities and created a communications system designed to help each other obtain, share, and distribute food. More importantly, we discussed our vision, the purpose of our work, and our united determination to serve other Christian churches.
The following morning all five trucks set out to collect food from the Orlando area packing houses, which were at their peak harvest time. Three trucks picked up donations of sweet corn, carrots, and celery, while my truck and another went north looking for watermelon. Usually this type of donation is not difficult to receive, but neither the brother who came with me nor I could get a donation for our truck. Two, and then three hours went by, rejection piling upon rejection, and then the sun began to set.
We couldn't go back empty-handed after we had traveled so far. I kept trying to convince myself that God must have prepared something for us. Neither of us were tired, and we determined to go on to the next place, when suddenly along the way we were shown a sign, literally. In front of a countryside church was a sign that read, "God Bless John." Since my name is John, seeing that sign energized me and gave me confidence. Sure enough, at the next packing house, we received a 1,000-watermelon donation. I realized once again that God will help us if we keep our faith until the last moment.
We find that through our weekly food distribution we are building heartistic and trusting relationships with many ministers. In Miami there is a Hispanic church whose membership had dwindled to 17, due to a split in the congregation. At our last Shared Action meeting, the pastor of that church, Rev. Martinez, was very happy to share his testimony that, since he began distributing food and reaching out to his people, his congregation has increased from 17 to 52 members. He was very grateful to be a part of our program.
The members in Miami are trying other ways to reach our ministers and their congregations. We are all learning Wonhwa-do. One church lets us use one of its rooms for training, and some of the congregants also participate in the classes.
We hope to reach the younger generation through martial arts.
The president of Shared Action, Inc. in Miami is Rev. Don Olson, a Lutheran pastor. He was one of the ministers who greeted Father on the morning of his release from Danbury prison. His sincerity, open-mindedness, and experience have given us the support and guidance we need to build a strong organization. In the future we plan to expand our work in two ways. First, we have found a gold mine of goodwill in the ministers and young people from the more wealthy churches, who have expressed the desire to participate in our programs to help congregations in need. We want to integrate these helpful people into our work as soon as possible. Secondly, we see many possibilities of receiving grants from individuals and foundations which will enable us to establish a warehouse, cold storage facilities, and salaried staff.
We feel deeply grateful to Rev. Olson, our state leader Mr. Yasutake, and all the city leaders in Florida for their support and guidance. We all have the determination to establish an internal and external foundation that can fulfill God's desire and realize Father's dream.