Sack Lunch Program Partners with Sacramento Street Medicine

St. Paul's has long held a Sack Lunch distribution from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. every Saturday. The program was put on hold during COVID, but as soon as some of the restrictions were lifted, church members began setting up a table outside its 15th street doors each Saturday morning to welcome and offer a sack lunch to their hungry neighbors.

What started as a modest ministry with 6-10 sack lunches being offered on any Saturday has grown to over 50 sack lunches given out each week. In addition, coffee, tea, and cocoa is served in reusable mugs, inviting visitors to stay and talk. ("To-go" cups are also available!)

A high-speed charging station is available to guests who want to recharge their devices. The Sacramento Downtown Partnership stops by twice a month to offer housing referrals and information on laundry and shower services and more.

In September, St.Paul's began a partnership with Sacramento Street Medicine (SSM), a group of certified volunteer healthcare providers who serve the needs of Sacramento's unhoused community through direct patient outreach visits. The SSM team will visit St. Paul's Sack Lunch Distribution twice a month to offer social services and medical care.

QuocViet Dam, or "QV," one of the Medical Techs said, "The energy at St. Paul's this weekend was phenomenal, and our team was so grateful to be welcomed to the community they've built. SSM strives to provide quality healthcare and services to our neighbors living outside, and St. Paul's gave us such a fantastic space to do so. We may be newcomers to the scene, but we are excited to keep developing our relationship and helping as many folks as possible. Thank you all for welcoming us with open arms!"

This new partnership expands St. Paul's healing prayer ministry to include medical care to those who are invisible in our society and in such great need.

St. Paul's sees, as a core value, the Christian responsibility to actualize the call from Matthew 25:35-36,40:

"For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me…The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"

"[St. Paul's] mission is to be a loving, accepting Christian community serving all people."

Learn more about Sacramento Street Medicine here.