by George Gramlich
The hand of God can clearly be seen in making a wonderful event happen last Saturday. Two separate strands of fate were somehow joined to produce a literal bounty of Thanksgiving food for around 100 Custer County families, and it wasn’t by chance.
Our local Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 12063 wanted to provide Thanksgiving turkeys and fix’ns for some of our less fortunate families in the Valley. After some planning, they began raising money to get ‘er done. They posted on social media and did door-to-door visits to the business community in Westcliffe and Silver Cliff. As usual, our merchants responded well.
Also, awhile back, our County Commissioner Bill Canda, happened to meet a certain Pastor John Gallegos from Denver, at a funeral of a mutual friend, Bill Borgess. Pastor John, as it turns out, is the founder and head of the incredible mobile free-food pantry organization in Denver, Metro Ministries (MM).
Pastor John’s ministry has multiple trucks that he and his staff load up with donated food and drive to poor neighborhoods and towns and hand it out to the needy.
Bill told Pastor John that there was an effort to do some Thanksgiving charity in Custer County and Pastor John said he might be able to help. So Bill gave our Veterans Service Office head, John Carrol, Pastor John’s contact information. John Carrol then got in touch with the pastor and started to make it happen. Pastor John wished to dedicate the event to his friend, the late Bill Borgess. Soon, our local E Campus Vitus (ECV) Al Packer #100 Chapter, American Legion Post 170 and the Custer County Sheriff’s Office also came on board.
John Carrol had developed a list of about 100 people who could use some help this Thanksgiving. Pastor John said that with a relatively small donation from the money raised, he would deliver around $40,000 (!!!!) of food for the effort. Yes, that number is $40,000!
The word went out that it was a go for Saturday, November 23rd, at 11 a.m at the school parking lot. The VFW, ECV, American Legion and ECV were there in force as well as a virtual throng of our local citizens who could use some help this Thanksgiving. And as 11 a.m. approached, there was no truck from Metro Ministries.
John Carrol, who was in charge of the event, had that old retired Army look of concern as the minutes clicked by. Finally, John got a hold of Pastor John on the truck and found out they were having a heck of a time getting up Hardscrabble as the huge box truck couldn’t bust 20 mph with all that food in it. But they would be there.
Finally, the big truck rolled in. Nobody really knew what to expect but we would find out in just a few minutes as Pastor John’s crew flew into action like Delta Force.
The big back door of the truck was opened and it was packed to the gills with food. Out flew a dozen fold out tables and four huge pop up tents. The gathered ensemble had those set up in no time as Pastor John’s food angels started moving the palleted food out of the truck via the rear mechanical lift and hand lifts. In no time they had a virtual mountain of food stacked up behind and in front of the tables. Our food handout volunteers got their aprons from the MM crew and instructions on how to proceed. Pastor John then addressed the crowd saying he wanted everyone here to get at least $250 worth of food to take home, and for some items, take as much as you want.
Pastor John then led the assembled in prayer thanking God for this blessing. It was truly a moving experience.
The line formed, and the party began. The happiness and joy in everybody there was simply amazing. The volunteers giving out the food were as happy as the families receiving it. Even the MM crew, who do this all week, were beaming. There was laughter and even some tears everywhere. It took a good two hours or so to process the line and help folks get the food to their
vehicles. It was an amazing sight.
God Bless the VFW, ECV, the Legion, and our Sheriff’s Office. And God Bless Pastor John and his incredible Metro Ministries. Neighbors helping neighbors with God’s help.
Based on some conversations near the end of the day, it looks like our volunteer groups, headed by the VFW, will be doing a similar event for Christmas. Financial help would be appreciated. Drop by the VSO office and see John Carrol for more information or give him a call, 719 783-9470, or via email: veterans@custercountygov.com.
“We got a chance to talk to the Metro Ministries founder, Pastor John Gallegos during the event. Truly a remarkable man. Pastor John was born and raised in Pueblo. He purchased his father’s business, Nationwide Cleaning Systems, when he was in his 20s and ran it for 20 years. John said he made a ton of money and when he reached 42, he decided to devote the rest of his life to the Lord and serve the poor. He sold the company and started working at the Denver Rescue Mission.
After a few years, he moved back to Pueblo and joined the Pueblo Rescue Mission (Wayside Gospel
Rescue Mission). In June of 2010, he started Metro Ministries in Denver. He bought a beat up one-ton van, started buying and receiving donated food, and making regular deliveries to poor and disadvantaged neighborhoods all over the Denver area. And with God’s help, the ministry took off.
MM now has multiple trucks, employees and volunteers and a big donor base including some of the largest corporations in the country. John still stays totally hands on. E.G., he and another MM worker, single handedly loaded that entire huge box truck with $40,000 of food the night before they came to Custer County. John literally glows with the light of the Lord. For more information and to make donations, go to metro-ministries.org or call 303-803-3658. Their email is info@metro-ministries.org. Finally, you can mail donations to Metro Ministries, 2707 West Mississippi Ave, Denver, CO, 80219.
They are doing God’s work, indeed.”