Review

By: Melody Martins

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GAP Food Ministry
Reopens Cupboards

Laura Mettler, Rachel Starr and Christina Chan chat while shopping at the GAP, which is housed in Scott and Ann Furlong's garage on Pacific Street. The GAP has been providing students with food for 13 years.
--Stephen Harris, photo

God Always Provides, the MBC food ministry that offers food at discounted costs, was scheduled to shut down in May because of a decline in usage and lack of funding, equipment and volunteers.

Scott and Ann Furlong saved the ministry from being discontinued. However, the ministry is no longer affiliated with Multnomah.

A few months before the May closing, the managers of the GAP, Jesse and Frankie Everett, asked Mrs. Furlong to take over the ministry. Mrs. Furlong, whose husband is a Multnomah alumnus, had been at the helm of the ministry for three of its 13 years and said she had always had her hand in the ministry.

She told the Everetts that she was busy and that she did not think she should accept the offer. She said she would pray about the decision.

Mrs. Furlong said she prayed, "If we're going to do this, then you're going to have to provide a shed for us somehow, and we're going to need more shelves."

Shortly afterward, Hayden Island Church donated a shed and two cupboards. "The Lord's been faithful," Mrs. Furlong said. "It's called God Always provides, and he has."

Beau Neil, a married student who has used the GAP, said that he knew many people who would not have made it without the ministry.

"It was an example of everything that was right about Multnomah," Neal said.

However, Mrs. Furlong said she needs more volunteers and claimed that students could earn ministry credit by serving at the GAP.

Jim Saemenes, director of student ministries, said if a student were just stocking shelves, the service would not be considered ministry. However, he said if the student had a ministerial approach to the GAP and could illustrate it in writing, the service could qualify for credit.

The ministry, located on Pacific Street, is open to the public on Thursdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. On Fridays, it is open during the same hours but only to Multnomah students.

The food--such as bread, milk-based products, fruit and vegetables--is available for a $3 donation. "It's probably the best way to help students without actually handing out money on the corner every weekend," Mrs. Everett said.

The GAP gets its food supply from Burch Gleaners, the Portland Rescue Mission, Harry's Fresh Foods and Parkrose Deliverance Tabernacle.

The Furlongs said that in the future they would like Multnomah students to take over the ministry.

However, Wayne Strickland, academic dean, said he did not know whether Multnomah would re-affiliate with the GAP. "It's not in our strategic plan," he said.

Independent from the question of the ministry's heirs, the Furlongs said they plan to serve at the GAP until the Lord tells them not to.

Scott and Ann Furlong run the GAP. Students can pick up food on Thursdays and Fridays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
--Stephen Harris, photo

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