“I know you.”

The claim came unexpectedly, as Bill Sweeney stood before the line that had formed in front of the silver-and-white Loaves and Fishes RI (L&F) truck. On that particular day he and a group of volunteers from St. Mary’s Church had stopped in front of Crossroads, the state’s largest homeless services organization, to deliver their bags of food, articles of clothing and basic necessities — just as they had done many times before for the past seven years.

This, however, was a new development.

It had come from a man standing within the line, a person Mr. Sweeney did not recognize. But he remembered Mr. Sweeney alright. They got to talking, and Mr. Sweeney learned that the man was an employee of a golf course he frequented every now and then. Yet there he was, standing in line in front of Crossroads — in need of food, without a place to live.

Mr. Sweeney did not know how or why this man had ended up in that line, but in that moment, none of it mattered. He would serve him with dignity and compassion, the same as everybody else.

That is the mission of L&F, a faith-based traveling catering truck dedicated to serving some of the most in-need Rhode Islanders throughout the year.

Putting faith aside

While today’s L&F is comprised of 12 different ministries scattered across the state, it was originally part of the Texas-based group Mobile Loaves and Fishes, brought up to Woonsocket 10 years ago. St. Mary’s joined three years later, and in 2016 the group re-formalized to become L&F, its own separate, nonprofit entity completely financed by donations.

One single truck is shared among the churches, coordinating their own individual runs. Though they may differ in their practices and beliefs, each ministry has the same mission in mind.

“We just put that aside to service other people,” said Mr. Sweeney.

Collectively, that amounts to roughly 20,000 meals, articles of clothing and other necessities each year. At St. Mary’s, volunteers typically gather twice a month, collecting clothes and preparing around 120 bags of food filled with sandwiches, bananas, cookies and hard-boiled eggs to be taken to places like Crossroads or the Emmanuel House in Providence.

Some of what they provide, the church purchases itself, like brand-new pairs of socks and underwear. Much of it, though, is donated: they get bread, meats and fruits from We Share Hope, a Warren-based food-rescue provider; bagels from Bristol Bagel Works; and up to eight dozen hard-boiled eggs every run from a local woman in town.

“St. Mary’s is not huge,” said the group’s clothing coordinator, Pam Bishop, “but people are really generous here.”

The need is great

Once items are organized onto the truck, a handful of volunteers travel together to that day’s site. They stay until there are no more people to serve or — far worse — there is nothing left to give.

“That’s the hardest part,” admitted Marnee Perry, the group’s email coordinator, “when you have to close those doors and somebody’s still standing there.”

Yet they do what they can, trying to get to know those whom they are serving as much as they can along the way. There was the man who recognized Mr. Sweeney from the golf course; a family who suddenly found themselves unable to manage their medical bills. A man who went from being a working professional to now struggling between jobs.

Each of their stories was different, rooted in a unique set of circumstances not always within their control — a fact that initially took Ms. Perry by surprise.

“We all know homelessness is a major problem, it’s a major issue … but I didn’t know how big of an issue,” she said.

Some faces they see just once, others on a more routine basis, all of them in varying stages of need. One man came through the line during the wintertime, wearing multiple pairs of socks for shoes; another one — the working professional — was on the hunt for a particular type of shampoo. The volunteers from St. Mary’s do their best to listen and come through when they can.

“When you can help somebody personally, they never forget it,” Ms. Perry said.

It is a sentiment that goes both ways. For volunteer Jim Kearney, the moments he spends with the individuals they serve stick with him long after they return back to Bristol. While it can be trying at times to know that L&F does not hold the power to end homelessness for good, Mr. Kearney believes their small contributions in large numbers can go a long way.

“We can only do little things,” he said. “But if enough people do them, then we’ll all be better off and much happier.”