(Tacoma, WA)--Ahndrea Blue was an attorney when God called her to start a food bank in the Tacoma, Washington, area.
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“Eloise's Cooking Pot was started because in one of my buildings, I was renting to two families and two little children named John and Lily looked like they weren’t eating on a daily basis," Ahndrea shares.
Soon, Ahndrea realized that the entire building was in need of supplemental food and that the area was in fact a food "desert." (The Oxford Dictionary defines a food desert as "an urban area in which it is difficult to buy affordable or good-quality fresh food.")
Although Ahndrea is an attorney by trade, she felt God's tug on her heart to start a food bank. Eloise’s Cooking Pot Food Bank was named after Ahndrea’s grandmother.
“She believed God could do anything. She was very poor by the world’s standards but very rich in spirit.”
Why does Ahndrea do this?
“My highest calling is a missionary, so if I can feed people in a third world country, I think I can feed people in my community.”
Since opening in 2009, Eloise’s Cooking Food Pot Bank served more than 1.5 million meals and feeds an average of 70,000 people each month!
“People are like ‘we don’t know how you’ve gotten so big’ and I tell them it’s the favor of God.”
What’s it been like for Ahndrea since founding Eloise’s Cooking Pot Food Bank?
“It’s an honor to serve these people. I am tremendously blessed. I have done some amazing things in this lifetime but nothing as good as to serve somebody. It’s been beautiful.”