About the Organizations we want to help with the WPoP:

Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Inc. (MLF) is a social outreach ministry to the homeless and indigent working poor. Our mission is:

"Providing food, clothing and dignity to our brothers and sisters in need".

Click here for information on what it takes to start a Mobile Loaves & Fishes Community.

We accomplish this mission through the use of ten trucks; nine catering trucks that are currently scheduled to go out on the streets of Austin and San Antonio,Texas, and New Orleans, Louisiana, every night of the week utilizing approximately 7,900 volunteers and one supply truck.

Six parishioners of Saint John Neumann Catholic Church in Austin, Texas, founded Mobile Loaves & Fishes in the summer of 1998. The idea germinated by a conversation one of the founders had with a fellow parishioner about a ministry in Corpus Christi, Texas that provides hot coffee and blankets to the homeless on extremely cold nights. Immediately upon hearing of this ministry the concept of utilizing a catering truck to fulfill this mission in Austin entered the founders mind. This idea would not go away.

After sharing this idea with four of the original founders it became evident that this concept was developing some momentum. Both prayers and cash were being offered to support this idea. The sixth founder, formerly homeless himself, became our guide to the streets. We began first by going out on the streets in our own vehicles distributing 75 sack lunches to test our resolve in fulfilling God's call. Our first trip was in September 1988 and it is in September of each year that we celebrate our anniversary. By December of 1998 we had raised enough money to purchase a 1997 Ford F-250 pick-up truck. We immediately drove the truck to Dallas to have the catering bed manufactured and installed.

April 1999, began our first full month of scheduled operations with seven teams committing to one night per month. Each team was composed of up to six on the truck crew; those that would actually go out on the streets and a Make Ready crew of about six, which would prepare the sandwiches and load the inventory on the truck for that evenings run.

In May 1999, we debut the truck to the St. John Neumann Catholic community after all of the masses on one particular weekend. In addition to having the truck blessed and serving refreshments, we had volunteer sign-up sheets available. We were not prepared for what was about to happen. Over 150 parishioners came forward to volunteer their time and talent to this ministry. By June we were operating on a schedule of 15 runs per month.

Through the development of our web based volunteer management and mapping system we are able to manage large numbers of volunteers on many teams going out every night of the week and ensuring that the trucks do not arrive at the same location on a given night. This system will allow us to expand to multiple communities anywhere I n the continental United States.

The year 2002 saw the expansion of Mobile Loaves & Fishes outside of the St. John Neumann community. A new catering truck was planted in both the St. Thomas More community and the St. Louis community, both in Austin, Texas. In 2004, new trucks were planted in San Antonio and at the Austin Downtown Alliance of Churches. After Mobile Loaves & Fishes responded immediately with relief efforts to aid our brothers and sisters in Louisiana and Mississippi devastated by Hurricane Katrina, we were approached by Trinity Episcopal Church in New Orleans and a truck was planted there in January 2006. Our latest "seed-planting" (placement of a new truck) was in January 2007 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in San Antonio, Texas. This truck is truly the fruits of a planted seed—specifically the St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church community in San Antonio, a three-year MLF community. St. Mark’s raised over $20,000 for this new truck —passing their blessing on to another community to serve their city. With the addition of these trucks MLF has served over 250,000 meals in 2006 alone.

Today, MLF has several other programs in addition to serving meals to our brothers and sisters in need. Habitat on Wheels (HOW) places homeless people in gently-used travel trailers that have been fully furnished.

The MLF Disaster Relief Response is a program that springs into action immediately after a disaster within driving distance of our program. The Disaster Relief Response provides meals, cleaning supplies, water, and other essential needs to our brothers and sisters who have been devastated by disasters such as floods, tornadoes, and hurricanes. Many hands must touch this ministry in so many different ways for us to be effective in fulfilling God’s will.

“For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another. Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us exercise them: if prophecy, in proportion to the faith; if ministry, in ministering; if one is a teacher, in teaching; if one exhorts, in exhortation; if one contributes, in generosity; if one is over others, with diligence; if one does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness”. Romans 12:4-8

Other Loaves and Fishes Programs

Habitat on Wheels

Click here to see the 5-minute MLF video Feet on Higher Ground about the Habitat on Wheels (HOW) program.

Mobile Loaves & Fishes (MLF) has a unique outreach program titled Habitat on Wheels (HOW). Habitat on Wheels is just what the name implies: travel-trailer housing for the homeless. This outreach is a solution to the plight of the down-and-out folks in the Austin area who either have no income and no place to live or those with meager incomes who are forced to live in cheap single-room occupancy (SRO) hotels or weekly-rate motels, where conditions are sub-par and rents too steep.

Rooms in weekly-rate motels, which are cash-only facilities, range from $140 to $200 per week. Tenants become locked in a vicious cycle of poverty, as their incomes are small and unreliable, employment is intermittent, and they cannot qualify for credit.

HOW provides affordable and sustainable travel trailers at an affordable cost to tenants. The trailers would be placed in a variety of trailer parks around Austin. Ground rent would be $250 to $300 a month, including electricity paid by the tenant.

The Befrienders

What is especially unique to Habitat on Wheels—the spiritual core of the program—is that each trailer is supported by half a dozen “Guardian Befrienders,” MLF volunteers each working a couple of hours a month, who regularly visit the tenants, take them out to lunch or dinner, and even invite them into their homes for meals. The idea is to integrate the trailer tenants into families and the community, providing much-needed structure in their lives.

Future Plans

MLF hopes to purchase and place 30 to 50 trailers in RV parks around town, and eventually, to purchase or develop its own RV park. At this point in time, MLF has 15 trailers successfully placed.  To see our vision for our Habitat on Wheels RV Park community.

Typical Bedroom
Sample floorplan of typical 5^th wheel trailer

SHARES is a voucher program that provides an opportunity for our community to aid our brothers and sisters in need in a constructive way.
The vouchers, available in $1 increments, are redeemable for food, clothing and personal care items at participating area merchants displaying a “MLF SHARES” logo. The vouchers are not redeemable for alcohol or tobacco products. At the end of each month, MLF SHARES reimburses the participating merchants for all the vouchers they have accepted

Participating Merchants

Current Participating Merchants:
Dollar General (MSC -410526 P.O. Box 415000 Nashville, TN 37241-5000)
Goodwill Industries of Central Texas (310 N. Lamar Austin, Tx 78703)
Hickory Street Bar & Grill (800 Congress Avenue Austin, Tx 78701)
St. Vincent de Paul Store (1327 S. Congress Ave Austin, TX 78704)
The Austin Shoe Hospital (8500 Research Blvd. # B Austin, Tx 78758)
The Onion (116 W. 5th Street Austin, Tx 78701)
Walgreen's (7800 Shoal Creek Blvd Suite 100W Austin, TX )

Safe Place

“Thank you to everyone at Safe Place for helping me to realize that I am worth more . than what I was made to believe and that I am a strong person and mother." .

~sexual assault counseling client~

Safe Place exists to end rape, sexual abuse and domestic violence.

Safe Place works to build a community of peace and safety for all.

§ They commit themselves to preventing rape, sexual abuse and domestic violence and breaking the cycle of violence in our community.

§ They create a safe place for women, children and men who have been victimized by rape, sexual abuse and domestic violence.

§ They offer a comprehensive and compassionate continuum of services, providing support and resources for survivors to create independent lives, free of violence, for themselves and their families.

§ They are leaders throughout our community, the state and nation in building models for preventing and healing rape, sexual abuse and domestic violence.

§ They will be catalysts for social change, dedicated to peace in our homes and on our streets.

HISTORY OF SAFEPLACE

In 1974 the Austin Rape Crisis Center (ARCC) was established and shortly after, in 1977, the Center for Battered Women (CBW) opened its doors. In 1998 Safe Place was created through the merger of these two trailblazers in the domestic and sexual violence fields.

In fact, CBW was the first shelter in Texas and one of the first in the nation to offer safety for battered women and their children. Through the year, both agencies expanded their services to better address the ever-growing needs of the community, gaining local and national recognition for their exemplary services. They joined together to form Safe Place, a unified source of hope for women, children and men in Austin/Travis County hurt by sexual and domestic violence, and a nationally-recognized leader for its innovative and effective programs.

Today, Safe Place provides a wide spectrum of services to survivors of violence, including: a 24-hour hotline; a 100-bed Family Shelter for battered adults and children; accompaniment and support at area hospitals for recent rape survivors; specialized recreational and therapeutic services for children; in-court support and accompaniment for survivors of violence seeking justice and protection through the legal system; individual and group counseling for children and adults; 46 apartment units of transitional housing for families leaving shelter; on-site child care for shelter and transitional housing residents; on-site K-8 education for shelter residents; and resource advocacy, to help link survivors of violence who are homeless or struggling financially with short-term emergency assistance.

In addition, Safe Place provides extensive community outreach, education and prevention programs to help individuals and families better identify and address sexual and domestic violence issues.

RECENT ACCOMPLISHMENTS
In 2004, Safe Place was awarded the National Crime Victim Service Award from the U.S. Department of Justice. Also, Safe Place’s Disability Services ASAP (A Safety Awareness Program) was awarded the Steven Chaney Distinguished Service Award from the Texas Crime Victim Clearinghouse for the program’s training, technical assistance and counseling services focused on abuse of persons with disabilities.

In 2003, Safe Place’s Expect Respect school-based services program was selected to participate in a national evaluation of four model violence prevention programs by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and RTI International. Expect Respect is the only program in Austin/Travis County that provides, in collaboration with area school districts, counseling for school-aged youth hurt by violence, as well as violence prevention education, and professional training.

In addition, Safe Place’s Supportive Housing Program and the Kelly White Family Shelter were featured on National Public Radio's (NPR) Housing First series on housing programs from across the country. Further, Safe Place was awarded the 2003 Samaritan Center Ethics in Business Awards in the non-profit category.

Key Staff at Safe Place

Julia Spann, MSW - Executive Director. 
Julia Spann has served as the Executive Director of Safe Place in Austin, Texas, since July 2005.  Safe Place provides comprehensive safety and healing services for sexual assault/abuse and domestic violence survivors, as well as prevention services for the Austin/Travis County community.   Julia was an important part of Safe Place’s history and development in her time with the agency from 1995-2002, when she served as Chief Program Officer.  

Prior to returning to Safe Place in 2005, Julia served as Executive Director of Caritas of Austin, a non-profit which provides basic needs and self-sufficiency services to low-income Austinites.  She also served as the Director of Social Services with the Salvation Army in Austin, and as Associate Vice President of Allocations with the United Way of Metropolitan Tarrant County.  

Julia has 22 years experience in the human services field, with 16 of those years in agency administration and planning.  She has led agency and community planning efforts focused on women and children’s issues, poverty, basic needs and homelessness.  She has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Texas A&M University, and a Master’s degree in Social Work from the University of Texas in Arlington, Texas.

Diane McDaniel Rhodes - Senior Director of Operations.
Diane has 24 years of experience in the social services field, including thirteen years of program design and management at Safe Place, ten years in abuse prevention services and two years consulting and teaching.

Prior to joining the staff of Safe Place, Diane served as the Executive Director of the Pebble Project, an organization that provides sexual assault prevention services and which is now part of Communities In Schools.  In her current capacity at Safe Place she oversees grant and contract compliance, network administration, information systems, and facilities.   Diane has a Bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Texas at Austin and a Master's degree in Pastoral Ministry from the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest.

Kitt Krejci - Senior Director of Finance.
Kitt joined the staff of Safe Place in June 2001. In her current position, she oversees the financial operations of the agency, including budgeting, payroll, grants financial management, accounts payable/accounts receivable, accounting and financial reporting. Kitt has 25 years experience in not-for-profit finance, serving as Business Manager/Treasurer, Director of Accounting, Controller, Chief Financial Officer, and Vice President for Finance and Administrative Services for private universities.

Her previous duties have included a wide variety of responsibilities, such as finance, investment management, accounting, budgeting, payroll and human resources, computer services, food services, student and staff housing, student financial aid, university bookstore operations, facilities and grounds. Kitt has a B.A in Computer Information Systems and Psychology from Campbellsville College and a Master's degree in Business Administration from Wayland University. She passed the CPA exam in 1996.

Barri Rosenbluth, LMSW-ACP - Director of School-Based Services. Over the past 15 years Barri has directed a school-based intervention and prevention program entitled Expect Respect in schools throughout Austin. The Expect Respect Program provides counseling, support groups, and educational programs for youth and adults on the issues of teenage dating violence, sexual harassment and bullying in K-12 schools.

Barri is the author of Expect Respect: A Support Group Curriculum for Safe and Healthy Relationships, Love—All That and More: A Six-Session Curriculum & Video Series on Healthy Relationships for Youth & Young Adults and co-author of DateSMART for the Boys and Girls Clubs of America.

The Expect Respect Program has been recognized as a best practice by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Center for Victim’s of Crime and the National Resource Center on Domestic Violence. Barri and her colleagues as well as youth participating in the program have been featured on Good Morning America, ABC News Day One and World News Tonight, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Partnerships for Preventing Violence National Satellite Training, Parade Magazine, Teaching Tolerance and in other local and national media.

Wendie Abramson, LMSW - Director of Disability Services ASAP (A Safety Awareness Program).
The national program that Wendie oversees offers outreach, abuse prevention education, and crisis intervention services geared toward children and adults with disabilities. The program provides training statewide and nationally for professionals in the disability, domestic violence, sexual assault and criminal justice fields as well as prevention education and counseling services locally for abuse survivors with disabilities. Disability Services has been honored with awards for exemplary service from entities such as the Texas Crime Victims Clearinghouse and Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA).

Wendie began working in the disability field in 1989 and has experience working with persons who have physical, cognitive, sensory, and/or psychiatric disabilities. She is a Licensed Master Social Worker and a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. She was the Editor of Stop the Violence, Break the Silence Training Guide and Resource Kit and was a co-Editor of Impact: Feature Issue on Violence Against Women with Developmental or Other Disabilities. She has presented at state and national conferences on the topic of abuse/violence against people with disabilities and served on various state/national conference planning committees as well as a proposal reviewer for numerous government grant programs related to anti-violence work.

Wendie currently is the Vice Chair of the Deaf Abused Women and Children Advocacy Services Board of Directors (http://www.dawcas.org/) and an Advisory Council member on the National Clearinghouse on Abuse in Later Life (http://www.ncall.us/).