Reaching out with sustenance, for the body and soul

When the red Chevy pickup pulls up, the men who camp along the Naches River or under the nearby Highway 12 overpass emerge from the brush and shadows.

As they make their way through the early light to breakfast at the back of the pickup, the driver, Bob Dean, a 63-year-old ex-Marine who served in Vietnam, greets them: "You guys want some coffee?"

One by one, the men -- there are six of them on this recent morning -- reach for a doughnut, pour a cup of coffee and take a sack lunch or maybe a bottle of water or two. A few rifle through boxes and bags of donated shoes, clothing and blankets.

It's all free. Anything they want, they can grab.

"I'll take a sandwich, maybe a blanket," says 37-year-old Benjamin John Heide. "Most of the time I stay out here. If it gets too cold, I go in."

He says it's cool that volunteers swing by every morning, their vehicles loaded with food.

"It's good," Heide says. "It does the job.

"We're all broke."

Before the truck pulls away, everyone gathers in a circle, joins hands and bows their heads. They ask for strength and guidance, then recite "The Lord's Prayer" in unison.

"We make sure they don't go hungry," says Dean, who volunteers to drive the donations to the overpass near the river six days a week.

"I'm retired, and it gives me something to do, and it makes me feel good to help somebody else," says Dean, one of about a dozen volunteers with Saving Lives One Sandwich at a Time.

The goal of the new program, a ministry of Sunrise Outreach, is to distribute food daily to Yakima's homeless and hungry. Volunteers encourage the folks they find downtown or along the river to help themselves.

"Basically, if we see somebody, we make sure they have food," says Dave Hanson, executive director of Sunrise Outreach and assistant pastor at Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Yakima.

Spiritual nourishment is available, too. Volunteers make a point to gather for prayer at each stop. They ask for petitions and pray for what people ask them to -- their protection and health, even a new pair of socks.

Participation is optional, but most take part. And, if one is open to it, volunteers will lay their hands on the person, praying over him or her individually.

"It's love and compassion for the homeless, making sure people are getting what they need," says Debra Harrington, the administrative assistant for Sunrise Outreach, a nondenominational Christian ministry that's just over a year old.

The organization has been providing food and other goods for people in need since closing its extreme weather shelters last month. The shelters provide a place for people to sleep from November through mid-March, when overnight temperatures typically drop below freezing.

"This picks up where the shelters leave off," Hanson says. "Ultimately, what we're trying to do is a year-round sheltering system."

In the meantime, volunteers meet in the kitchen in the church basement seven days a week to load up Dean's truck or other vehicles. Weekdays, they gather about 8:30 a.m. Weekends, they meet at 1 p.m. It takes about an hour and a half to give away about 100 sandwiches.

"Some of them just eat them right there, on the spot," Harrington says.

In addition to the shelters and sandwich outreach, Sunrise Outreach runs a food and clothing bank and an urban alternative youth program. A dozen churches, businesses and organizations regularly contribute.

"It's a collaboration," Hanson says.

Among the recipients is 40-year-old John Cory, who has camped "off and on for the last 10 years, maybe more, I don't know" along the banks of the Naches River. Since the shelters closed for the season, he's been looking for the Sunrise Outreach volunteers almost every day.

"It helps a lot," says Cory, who also eats fish he catches as well as food he gets from local food banks and the Union Gospel Mission.

A couple miles away, in southeast Yakima, Tim Holmes, who lives in the 100 block of South Naches Avenue, says he shops at Wal-Mart, where he believes he gets the best deals and can stretch his food stamps. Sunrise Outreach helps make ends meet, the 56-year-old says.

Dean's truck usually arrives in his neighborhood about 9:15 a.m. weekdays. Within minutes, about two dozen people are gathered on the sidewalk near the pickup.

"I give them kudos for trying to make a difference," Holmes says, holding a couple of packs of ramen noodles that he received from the ministry. "It's a wonderful thing they do. I'm just wondering how long they'll be able to do this before it runs out."

As Holmes stands on the sidewalk near Dean's red truck, a man who doesn't want to give his name but has something to say, leans in.

"This is what love is," he says. And of the Sunrise Outreach volunteers, he adds, "They believe in people."

You can help ...
Saving Lives One Sandwich at a Time needs:
?  Sliced meat
?  Bottled juice and water
?  Cheese
?  Zip-close bags
?  Foam cups for coffee
?  Coffee
?  Travel-size hygiene items, such as shampoo, soap and toothpaste
?  Cash donations
Food donations may be dropped off between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Yakima, 221 E. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

• For more information, call Dave Hanson, executive director of Sunrise Outreach and assistant pastor at Vineyard Christian Fellowship of Yakima, at 509-453-2343.

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