Homestead Ministries marks one year of service

The Mockonema 4H Club poses in front of the Homestead Ministries trailer after assembling soup packets.

When Tom Riedner and Greg Nolan began Homestead Ministries a year ago, they might not have been able to imagine how much of an impact they could have in such a short time.

"We have gone from absolutely nothing to where we're in the black," Riedner said. "I gave it to God, and He went ahead and ran with it."

Homestead Ministries is a nondenominational, faith-based volunteer organization that supports local agriculture and is dedicated to finding solutions to reduce hunger locally and regionally. The mission of the organization is to spread love and understanding, one soup packet at a time.

"We want to make sure that we feed people," Riedner said.

This is accomplished with soup packets. The soup packets are packed with lentils, red kidney beans or splits peas and also contain spice packets to complement the commodities and instructions for cooking the soup. Additionally, there is also a Christian quote and scripture verse on each package.

Each soup packet makes at least six servings.

In the first year, the organization was able to make 20,000 soup packets – the equivalent of 120,000 meals.

"It's incredible. It's very satisfying that we can make such a difference," Riedner said. "You get hooked on it. It's almost like you need more. It really does open doors in your heart you didn't even know you had."

Each soup packet is assembled for less than one dollar, with the split green peas coming in around 30 cents, the lentil chili at about 70 cents and the red kidney bean chili for about 98 cents.

"This means you can feed six people for less than one dollar," Riedner said.

All soup packets are free of charge.

"Our focus is to get a good local nutritional, protein-based, shelf stable product into the hands of the people who will need it the most," Riedner said. "Our intent is to feed the less fortunate and hungry and turn no one away."

A young boy and girl pose with soup packets after a Homestead Ministries event at St. Peter and Paul Catholic School in Grangeville, Idaho.

Riedner said the organization has been blessed with the service of volunteers and others who have donated their time, talents, money or other items to help move the mission of Homestead Ministries forward.

"People have good hearts for service. There's some incredible people around here," Riedner said. "I really can't say enough about the good people around here. The supporters and volunteers, they're selfless. They exude that. They just want to continue to help and help."

Riedner said many businesses have been supportive of the ministry, providing help with producing business cards or advertisements or providing a place to put their soups so people can come in and take them.

"Businesses just open their arms for us," Riedner said. "Dean Hall can't keep enough soups of ours in stock because people are always taking them."

Donations such as peas, garbanzos, lentils, wheat or barley are always welcome, as are cash donations, which would be used to help with purchasing products, supplies and transportation.

Volunteers are also welcome to build soup mixes, put together spice packets or help other groups build the soup packets.

Riedner said one of the milestones in the first year was being able to purchase a trailer for the organization.

The trailer helps them to haul items needed for the soup packets and also allows them to travel to churches, schools and events around the area and region.

Riedner said in this first year there were several events where the community could come together and build the soup packets and spices. Several more events are planned in the second year.

This weekend, he will be at University of Idaho in Moscow at a Serving Your New Community event put on by the Center for Volunteerism and Social Action. There, volunteers will assemble the soup packages and spices.

"It's a busy activity," Riedner said. "It's one where people can be active in it and have camaraderie, yet at the same time they can be doing good for people."

The event takes place from 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, and in those two and half hours, Riedner expects to be able to make 600 soup packets – the equivalent of 3,600 meals.

"A little bit goes a long ways," he said. "It really has resonated with people that you can be a part of something big."

The U of I event has been planned for some time, and the original plans for the soup packets were to create some stock ahead of the soup season, Riedner said. However, that has changed as needs have arisen.

Riedner said the entire 600 packets will be sent to the Kamiah-Kooskia area, where wildfires have burned more than 20,000 acres in just more than a week and continue to burn and consume homes. Riedner said he was able to send about 400 packets down earlier this week as well.

"People that are completely away from that situation still get to help through this," he said.

Riedner said there will be several more events throughout the fall in the communities around the county and even in Spokane. He plans six events for the fall semester at Washington State University.

Additionally, Homestead's biggest event of the year is coming up on Oct. 15.

The event will take place at Logos School in Moscow, where students and staff will have the opportunity to package soups and spices. Last year, they were able to complete 10,000 packages, and they have upped the goal to 15,000 this year.

"We'll be able to flood the entire quad counties with soup," Riedner said.

Riedner said he hopes to continue expanding this ministry as time goes on. He sees expansion happening as more events are scheduled and more people get on board.

He said they will continue with the help of volunteers and supporters, spreading love and understanding, one soup packet a time.

Donations can be mailed to Homestead Ministries at P.O. Box 146 Colfax, WA. 99111.