Thank you to all of you who have supported us this past year. Our goal at the beginning of 2022 was to serve 10,000 meals. We are ecstatic to announce we served approximately 14,365 meals including both paid catering jobs and free community meals! Your support of our organization through Catering meals has helped us employ the community we serve and love so much! Last year we went from having Pastor Anna, our Pastor and Mission Developer, on staff to hiring four staff people who work Monday through Thursday and two others who work with us for big events as needed.

We are also in the process of expanding our programming. We are now FULLY fundraised for our Mobile Shower and Laundry facilities to launch this year and we are very close to opening our first community fridge! The fridge will be located at Growing Hope in Ypsilanti. We are looking for volunteers to do regular checks on the fridge and for food donations. Please contact us if you are interested in contributing! 

Thanks to all the incredible folks who have allowed us to grow immensely in just one year. Your financial support, volunteer work, and promotion of our work are what allow us to do what we do. We cannot wait to see what growth 2023 has in store for us, and we hope you will all continue to be part of the FedUp journey! 

We want to express gratitude to our former kitchen operations team lead, Jeff who contributed immensely to our FedUp team by taking leadership roles in the kitchen and coworking alongside Doug and Alysa, our other kitchen staff members. With Jeff’s dedication to the organization, we were able to provide thousands of meals over the past four months, including our Thanksgiving feast! Jeff will be transitioning from operations team lead to an on-call staff person for larger events. Jeff, we are so thankful for your hard work. 

Thank you Brittany! As one of our first University of Michigan’s School of Social Work interns, Brittany proved this partnership is and will continue to be a success!  Throughout her internship, Brittany brought us closer to the launching of our community fridge, created a robust resource binder for employees and community members, helped us to take steps to reach new communities, specifically the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, and much more! We are so grateful for everything she did to help FedUp grow and we are beyond excited to see what her future holds! We know she will continue to do incredible things! 

Help us welcome Cory, our new Kitchen Team Lead! Cory grew up and still resides in Redford, MI. Before beginning his culinary career, he worked on an ambulance. He began his professional culinary career six years ago at Selden Standard and then moved to Zingerman’s Deli. We are so excited to see how Cory’s experience can elevate our food here at FedUp! Outside of Cory’s professional life, he plays the bass in a band, has 3 kids, a golden retriever named Bruce Wayne, and a love for all things Michigan, including the outdoors and craft beer! Cory came to us wanting to meet new people and use his abundance of experience to give back to the community. He is excited to teach people new skills they want to learn and find himself in this experience. Welcome Cory!

Here at FedUp Ministries we are dedicated to helping people from all backgrounds learn to affect change and grow. One of the ways in which we are dedicated to this is by working with the University of Michigan School of Social Work through our internship program. We currently have three interns working with us from the School of Social Work including one of our newest team members. Our interns here are gaining skills in non profit management, as well as how to help create effective change in their community.

"Hello! I’m Madelyn Moncrief (She/Her). I am an MSW student at the University of Michigan in the Community Change Pathway. I am originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, and I just recently moved to Michigan. My hobbies include crocheting, reading, and hanging out with my cats. I am so excited to join the team here at FedUp and learn more about what it takes to create change in a community, and I am so excited to get out here and serve this community."

We are overjoyed to welcome our new kitchen staff member, Gary Jackson! Gary grew up in Bellville, Michigan and has since relocated to Ann Arbor. Gary does construction work, union work and is a former ironworker and railroad worker. Gary recently came to the church one day seeking a meal from FedUp. As someone who was then experiencing homelessness and food insecurity, he found solace here at FedUp. Gary’s love for people and his kitchen experience, specifically in catering, led him to volunteer. He is now a part time employee! His dedication to the food and his community make him an excellent addition to our team. Welcome Gary! 

We have just purchased our new mobile shower and laundry facilities. They need some work before they are up and running, and we are blessed to have the fantastic Rodolfo Goncalves working on this project. Rodolfo works for House Doctors of Ann Arbor, a busines comprised of home impovement professionals. They tackle all home projects and can work in a timely matter and on budget. Check them out if you are looking to improve your home! We are so grateful for his time and energy to help us with these facilities. We know he will do a wonderful job!  We are excited about the progress on these facilities and are hoping to bring them to the community starting THIS Spring! 

Above is our volunteer schedule for January. We do not have any special events this month, but gear up for a few in February! We hope to see familiar and new faces:)