Summit Electric Supply, Albuquerque, N.M., donated a catering truck to help the state's largest homeless shelter expand its services. Dubbed the Lifeline of Hope, the food vehicle will enable the organization, Joy Junction, to provide simple foods and beverages to the homeless who remain on the streets.
“This outreach could make the difference between life and death to someone cold, hungry and dehydrated,” said shelter founder and CEO, Dr. Jeremy Reynalds.
The shelter has been turning away as many as 25 people a night for lack of space, said a Summit release. Joy Junction had two vans and one small bus for transporting the homeless to the shelter and for giving out coats and blankets. But Reynalds envisioned a truck that could meet the homeless who remain on the streets and provide warm food and drinks to show that someone cares.
Summit President and Chief Executive Officer Victor R. Jury Jr., a long-time supporter of the shelter, happened to read about the idea in the shelter's newsletter. He found the 2006 Chevrolet Silverado catering truck in West Palm Beach, Fla., via eBay. Jury gave Reynalds one of his free airline tickets to fly out and pick it up.
“When I read Jeremy's newsletter article in which he shared his vision for a mobile catering vehicle to provide a homeless person a warm cup of cocoa or coffee, some soup or a sandwich or maybe a blanket or jacket on a cold day, I couldn't stop thinking about how simple and doable it was,” Jury said.