Samaritan Ministries

https://www.samaritanforsyth.org/sam-and-eggs/

Even Hurricane Debby cannot close Samaritan! This was our 15,867 consecutive day of never closing our doors. With the power out starting at 6am, the staff and a few brave volunteers pulled together to provide a warm nutritious meal for 250 of the most vulnerable in our community today. With the power restored, we are preparing dinner for our shelter guests.

We invite you to be a part of this vital mission of providing food, shelter, and hope through Christian love. Give now: https://www.samaritanforsyth.org/donate-online/

We are so excited to welcome Arianna to the Samaritan family as our volunteer coordinator! Arianna is passionate about poverty alleviation and giving back to the community. She is excited about being able to connect volunteers with the many opportunities available at Samaritan.

If you'd like to volunteer, check out our website: https://www.samaritanforsyth.org/volunteerreg/

https://www.samaritanforsyth.org/volunteerreg/

Thank you to the ladies' group at Salem Baptist Church for "filling the trunk" with needed items from our wish list! We enjoyed eating some ice cream sundaes, getting to know you, and sharing our mission and programs with you. Your gifts will be a blessing to our guests!

Come volunteer with us! Sign up today: https://www.samaritanforsyth.org/volunteerreg/

We had a fantastic group of first-year medical students from Wake Forest University School of Medicine join us earlier this week to volunteer! They completed several different projects for Samaritan including food prep, closet organization, assembling hygiene packs and more. As always, we are so grateful for this partnership and for the willing hearts these students bring whenever they visit!

Recently, educators and artists from Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) presented a free visual art workshop designed to highlight the creative spirit of Forsyth County. These workshops are a great opportunity to explore and develop skills in art forms such as painting, printmaking, drawing, photography, and more.

For this most recent session, our visitors brought a mobile art gallery with two pieces from local artists and they provided art packets (canvas bag, sketch pad, colored pencils, and sharpener) for each guest who attended.

Our guests enjoy learning from Novant Health community health educator Leigh Hammond each month. In July, we played "Body Bingo" to learn how all of our organs work together for good health.

Thanks to our dear friends at for providing the cakes that we served in the Soup Kitchen yesterday to celebrate 5 Million Meals!

5. MILLION. MEALS.

Today, we celebrated the incredible milestone of serving our FIVE MILLIONTH MEAL here at Samaritan Ministries. Since we opened the doors on March 2, 1981, we have never once missed feeding our neighbors. That's 15,844 days in a row. Yes, you read that right. 15,844.

We are grateful, so grateful, to ALL of the folks who make this happen each and every day. Volunteers, staff, donors, supporters. We could not have reached this phenomenal day without every single one of you.

Let's keep it going, shall we?!

Be sure to check in with us tomorrow! We have quite the reveal to share with all of you!

"Many hands make light work," as the saying goes.

We have, truly, no idea what we would do without our volunteers. In our Soup Kitchen alone, tens of thousands of volunteers have lent their willing hands, hearts and smiles to guests since we opened 43 years ago in 1981.

While the food we serve nourishes the bodies of our guests, our volunteers and their kind, loving spirits nourish their souls. We are forever, forever grateful.

Since we opened our Soup Kitchen doors, we have NEVER missed a day. Rain. Snow. Extreme heat. Hurricanes. A global pandemic.

We've served turkeys on Thanksgiving. Ham on Easter and special meals for Christmas. Cakes on birthdays and chicken wings for the Super Bowl.

Nearly 16,000 days. In a row.

We could never, ever do this work without the support that we receive from everyone in the community. Individuals and businesses. Donors and volunteers. We are forever, forever grateful.

We need your help serving lunch!

As is often the case, the summer months are the months that we find it the toughest to fill our lunch volunteer slots. Can you help us feed lunch to our neighbors? We would be honored to have you.

If you, your friends, your office, would be able to join us to volunteer to help with lunch in the Soup Kitchen, please visit our website at samaritanforsyth.org/volunteer/ to sign up or call Samaritan at 336.748.1962. Additionally, please contact Robin Stone at Samaritan if you are willing to be a backup volunteer.

Thank you!

The Samaritan Soup Kitchen has, like any place, gone through changes over the years. We've moved, we've renovated, we've "redecorated" to keep up with the latest trends (look at those teal chairs!), we've made changes to make things more workable.

But through all the changes, we have never abandoned the core of what the Soup Kitchen stands for. We've adapted. We've gone from long, rectangular tables to round ones to promote community and fellowship. When we moved, we served bagged lunches until our kitchen was ready. When we couldn't be open during Covid, we threw open the side doors and served to-go meals. We've always, always made sure that we've fed and loved our neighbors.

Our big day next week is getting closer. We can't wait to share it with you!

When our Soup Kitchen opened in 1981, we served...soup! A hot bowl of soup might not sound too appealing during our current high temps, but in early March, when we opened our doors, it hit the spot for our guests.

That year, 43 years ago, we averaged serving 92 people daily. Now, in 2024, we serve around 344 folks a day! And we've graduated to a wide array of meals that include fresh fruits and vegetables, crowd favorites like tacos and yummy desserts, and more!

Another day of looking back at Samaritan Ministries!

One of the most instrumental folks in the effort to begin things at Samaritan was Reverend Stimson "Stimp" Hawkins, who was then an associate pastor at First Presbyterian Church in Winston-Salem. Stimp led our charge and is pictured here in the far left of the first photo at our 25th anniversary in 2006!

Our first Soup Kitchen location welcomed guests immediately, with warm greetings from many volunteers like Ann Hensel, pictured in both the first and second photos.

We have more memories coming, leading up to a big day next week. Stay with us!

We've got something big cooking here at Samaritan Ministries....and we can't to tell you about it next week!

Leading up to our big announcement, we'd like to take a walk down Memory Lane... Samaritan Ministries' doors opened 43 years ago in 1981 on Patterson Avenue, just behind our current location.

Since then, not a SINGLE DAY has gone by when we haven't welcomed our neighbors and lived out our mission of providing food, shelter and hope through Christian love, as is outlined in Matthew 25.

Through cold, through heat, through a pandemic, through so much, we have never missed a day.

We're excited about our big news next week...check in each day between now and then for more looks back and more of the history of this special, sacred place.

We wish a very Happy Independence Day to you and yours, and hope that you will take a moment during today's festivities to remember and be thankful the many, many freedoms for which so many have sacrificed.

We also remember today the importance of loving and caring for our neighbors. We thank you all that you support Samaritan's mission of providing food, shelter and hope through Christian love. Our work here never takes a vacation, and we are grateful for your help in doing this most important work.

https://www.samaritanforsyth.org/donate-online/

Thanks to Leigh Hammond from Novant Health for providing a session on the importance of hydration, especially during these extremely hot days.

Guests learned about the risks of heat stroke and heat exhaustion and enjoyed sampling some homemade vitamin water!

Thank you, thank you, thank you to the incredible Tour de Llama 2024 sponsors who made our event this past weekend so fantastic! Your dedication and support mean the world to us. We couldn't do it without you.

THANK YOU!

A few quick glimpses at a wonderful morning sending over 250 cyclists out on their way! Thank you thank you to everyone for the support and prayers for safe rides!

The big day has arrived! It's a beautiful morning at Divine Llama, and the Tour de Llama 2024 cyclists will take off in about an hour. We can't wait!

Thanks to all who have supported this day and are participating in it!

Today is the LAST DAY to register for Tour de Llama - if you haven't done so yet, please do so as soon as possible! Registrations close at 3 pm and there will be NO walkup registrations this year!

https://www.samaritanforsyth.org/tour-de-llama-event/

As promised, we're excited to share this feature story on our amazing friends from Black Girls Do Bike: Winston Salem! Our thanks again to Natalie Wilson WGHP FOX8 for coming out and covering this incredible group.

We cannot wait to have them ride with us THIS Saturday at Tour de Llama. Will you be with them? Registration ends Thursday at 3 pm!

https://www.samaritanforsyth.org/tour-de-llama-event/

https://myfox8.com/spotlight/good-for-her/love-of-biking-giving-women-of-color-in-triad-way-to-connect/

Love of biking giving women of color in Triad way to connect WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) — A love for hopping on a bike and going for a ride is giving women of color a place to connect. “We are a family. It’s fitness, fun and fellowship,” Shawn Br…

Only TWO more days to register for Tour de Llama 2024! Rider registration closes at 3 pm on Thursday afternoon. Have you registered? If you haven't, please do so today! https://www.samaritanforsyth.org/tour-de-llama-event/

Thanks to all of the wonderful bike shops and other cycling partners in town for helping us promote this year's event!

Bicycle Toy and Hobby Clemmons Bicycle CrossRoads Cycling Co. Clemmons cycles de ORO Bike Shop Downtown Bicycle Works First Flight Bicycles GalacticBike Mock Orange Bikes Paul's Cycling and Fitness Fiddlin' Fish Brewing Company

There's officially ONE WEEK left to register to ride in Tour de Llama 2024! Please share with your cycling friends... We can't wait to see everyone next Saturday, June 22!

https://www.bikereg.com/tour-de-llama