Mobile Loaves & Fishes

Mobile Loaves & Fishes, Inc. (MLF) is a social outreach ministry for the homeless. We were founded in 1998 as a ministry of St. John Neumann and became a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in 2000.

We started when six parishioners of Saint John Neumann Catholic Church in Austin, TX founded the ministry in the summer of 1998. The idea of using catering trucks to distribute food was planted by a conversation one of our founders had with a fellow parishioner, and the rest, as they say, is history. He shared his idea with the four original founders, and before they knew it both prayers and cash were being offered in support.

The sixth founder, formerly homeless himself, became the founder’s guide to the streets, and they began distributing 75 sack lunches a day to test their resolve in fulfilling God’s call. The first trip was in September of 1998, and by December of that year there was enough money to purchase a 1997 Ford F-250 pick-up truck with a catering bed.

April 1999 was the first full month of scheduled operations; there were seven teams each committing to one night per month. In May 1999 the truck was debuted to St. John Neumann Catholic community, and over 150 volunteers from the parish signed up to serve. Soon we were doing 15 runs a month in the truck.

Today, in addition to continuing our MLF Trucks, we have expanded our ministry to include a housing program with over 50 formerly chronically homeless individual currently living at RV parks across the city. We also run a sustainable food and community health initiative called Genesis Gardens, growing the bet food in the city for those who can least afford it.