Cheeseburger Ministry Wins Top College Prize
A simple idea inspired by a conversation with a homeless man exceeded expectation by winning a Minnesota college's top social service prize of the year.
Helping Hope, an outreach which offers cheeseburgers to homeless people, recently was named the best community service project in the "Light the Way" contest at Northwestern College in St. Paul, Minn.
The outreach had actually begun before the students even knew about the contest.
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Project leader Greg Westgard was volunteering at a shelter where he asked a homeless friend what he wanted. The homeless man replied he wanted meat and that one answer helped inspire Westgard and his friends to begin the ministry in December.
Every Tuesday, Westgard and a group of male students in his building pooled together their personal money to buy 100 McDonald's cheeseburgers to bring to the shelter. The food helped open conversation between the students and the cheeseburger recipients and led to counseling and eventually Bible studies.
"At first we didn't really know what we were doing. We just went to McDonald's took a cooler and packed cheeseburgers and just went," Westgard told The Christian Post.
However, personal money soon ran out after two months and the students were wondering if they could continue their outreach. At this difficult time in February the team heard about the first annual Light the Way contest for student projects serving their communities. Contestants would receive $500 seed money to finance their project and $2,000 to continue their outreach if they won first place.
"We imagined we would triple the seed money if we qualified for the Light the Way Contest, and God was faithful," commented Westgard on behalf of his Helping Hope team, in a statement. "This goal became a reality – the $500 increased to over $2,000."
Westgard, a ministry major, is joined by a team of Northwestern students who though diverse in field of studies are united when it comes to reaching out to people in need.
In the team's contest entrance form they said their service project believes "relationships, not programs, changes lives."
The ministry is focused on connecting personally with their homeless friends, including going out for one-on-one lunch and Bible studies during the summer when the students have more time.
But the people at the shelter are not the only ones benefiting from the experience.
Westgard said he has been profoundly impacted by the experience and wonders who has benefited more from the service project.
"Through my conversations with my homeless friends my eyes are getting opened more and more," Westgard told The Christian Post. "It has made me become less and less self-centered.
"Also, leading Bible study is very humbling. These guys are mostly in their 40s or 50s and have so much more life experience than me and a lot of time I feel they could be teaching me," he said. "The experience really stretches me and I just see how God will provide if you take the first step."
Helping Hope in addition to winning the first place prize money has also raised matching funds from different sources such as a corporate partnership with McDonald's, a church offering and fundraiser, and personal donations to finance the project.
The Helping Hope Project has continued without rest into the summer with a group of Northwestern students still taking cheeseburgers to the shelter every Tuesday.
