Operation Find & Feed Inc. - The Story

By Corey Lowery

After having a rough year in 2011, I rolled into 2012 with hope. Self employed and with new goals, I was trying to put life in balance. An opportunity arose in the spring to go on men’s retreat with some friends. Things were going good at that time, so I went.

Another attendee was Matt Rogers. We met and were friends right away.

That friendship led to a series of fellowships where we wanted to bring brothers together to worship God and grow in faith together.

At the time we began fellowshipping, I was volunteering at Day Spring Center as a men’s group leader. I also had a men’s group called Step By Step Reinvention Program. A friend, Michelle Jackson, was the volunteer coordinator at Day Spring, and set me up with the task. After roughly a year and a half, I left Day Spring and took a break from doing outreach.

One day in early October, I was driving and saw a billboard about homelessness and felt a tug. I sent Michelle a text about it and coincidentally, she had just posted something on facebook about helping homeless. We knew this was Devine. We decided we should do something, so I called Matt and asked if he would help, and of course, he said yes.

We met for lunch to discuss a plan, and then went for it! Friday October 25, 2013, at 7:15am we met at the downtown library and began our journey. That Friday, there were four of us that walked the cold streets of downtown, looking for who might need our meager offerings.

Valley in the Alley

The first day was magical as we set out to help those living on the streets. As we walked back to the car, we planned for the next week. “A wagon!” Matt said. “My kids have a wagon they don’t really use, I will bring it.”

We also soon discovered that how do we know who is actually homeless or needy just by appearance. So Matt bought coffee to offer to everyone we saw. We met some interesting characters and for a few, they waited for us on certain streets because they knew we would be coming. We even met a man who claimed to be General Norman Schwarzkopf’s nephew.

As we continued to walk the streets on Fridays, we had several people come to help. A couple guys who really liked coming was Marc Adetou and Aaron Smith. Both Marc and Aaron were members of my church, Light of the World Christian Church, and became regular volunteers

The winter of 2013/14 was a cold one with lots of snow. Matter of fact, the mayor closed the city a couple days. With that, we took some Fridays off in December and January.

When February and March came around both Matt and Michelle had new work commitments which made the Friday trek difficult. I enlisted the help of Marc and Aaron and others to help carry out the mission.

In April Marc and I had a bunch of sleeping bags one weekend and were looking for people who might need them. First, we went out Saturday evening but was not successful. Then we tried a Sunday morning. We drove around a bit and then we stopped at gas station because we saw some guys standing around. We asked if they knew where we could find guys who might need sleeping bags. They pointed to an alley and said,“try over there.”

When we pulled into the alley, we saw a bunch of guys talking and we asked them if anyone needed a sleeping bag. Within minutes the sleeping bags were gone we were having conversations with the guys.

As we left the alley, Marc said,“ we should bring food and coffee back here.”

A couple weeks later, me, Matt a friend of ours named Cassandra, took food, coffee and Love into the Alley.

We had no idea what would follow but we knew that we had to keep showing up!

Week after week we went into the Alley and shared Christ Love with those who were there. Things started out small, then just kept growing. Word of mouth brought many new volunteers and many who needed Sunday morning breakfast.

As the weeks moved on, we kept working on getting better at serving.
I was the preacher and we asked for singers and prayers within the group we served. One Sunday I was going to be out and Matt arranged for someone to speak, Evan Casey. When I returned to find out that everything was fine and Evan did great, I remembered that this small, three-person ministry, that had grown to a lot of people, was not ran by Corey but by God and He would always do a great work as long as we didn’t get in the way! This realization birthed our guest speakers!

From this new era of not only inviting people to help serve but also to share a Word with the men, opened our minds to grow outside of the Alley.

We started a one-day revival called The Resurgence Revival, where we would ask a church to host, provide a speaker and then we did the rest. It was about a six hour day, with three speakers, two meals and some snacks and great discussion.

Then we started a Saturday fellowship called the C & D Lounge (Coffee and Donut). It was a Saturday morning fellowship where we had a few speakers, some games, food, discussion and maybe some giveaway items. We wanted to provide a steady stream of positive fellowship for the men who were housed at Wheeler or on the streets.

Basketball

In 2015 we launched our first Basketball Fellowship! It was a great time for our group to take the Love we shared for God to those we served. We planned for big numbers and lots of action, but that’s not what happened. Small and mighty was the first time, an overnight event with 9 awesome men and about a dozen volunteers.

That experience sparked a fire for many of the volunteers and participants alike. Bonds were made and lives changed. To date we have hosted 13 successful B-Ball events, approx. 225 men have participated and roughly 70 volunteers.

Lead the Way & Pickleball

In 2018 we found the need to create a class that would did deep into the past, present and future of the men. Thus, Operation Lead the Way was born. The class focused on two things, spiritual growth and personal growth. We invited 8 guys to participate, four showed up for the nine week program. Each of the four guys only missed one class and were a little sad when it was over. We tweaked the class a bit and have implemented it as a regular part of our overall programing. To date roughly 12 guys have completed a full nine weeks and several were on schedule to complete a full term before Covid-19 shut the city down.

If you haven’t heard of pickleball, its worth checking out. A fun indoor or outdoor sport that plays similar to tennis. We held our first pickleball fundraiser in the spring of 2019 as a way to raise money for our general fund. It was a immediate success!

With the help of a pickleball pro, we created fun filled events with a silent auction, refreshments, OF&F swag and great fellowship. We would also pay a couple guys from the Lead the Way class to help set up and tear down. We were able to use that as community service for the men.

Special Events & Activities

Through the years we have had many special events and been a part of big moments in the life of those we serve and those we serve with.

Small groups, weddings, funerals, Christmas celebrations, Circle City Dinner Church, Anniversary Celebrations, Bethesda Baptist Church Dinners, Special Classes, Special preaching, retirements, birthdays, citizenship, baptism and more!

Partners in Service

• One thing we learned early on is that we must have partners in the faith.

• Several churches and organizations have partnered with us and have helped us grow and serve.

• Light of the World Christian Church

• New Revelation Christian Church

• Amazing Grace Christian Church

• Jerusalem Apostolic Temple

• Geist Christian North Campus

• Second Presbyterian Church

• Pro Act Indy

• Seeds of Hope Women’s Shelter

• The Way Church

• Deer Creek Music Center (Ruoff)

• Wheeler Mission Ministries

• The Bridge Men’s Group

• Side Street Catering and More!