Grassroots group waiting for permit to resume feeding Pasco’s needy

One man saw a need, and took the initiative to fill it, helping a handful of homeless residents in Kennewick.

After awhile, the group moved on, and started looking around for more people to help. That's when he started showing up at Peanuts Park in downtown Pasco, feeding a few homeless residents.

It didn't take long for word to spread, and Mike Johns soon had more hungry mouths lining up for meal, and more hands willing to help set up and distribute meals.

"An officer with the Pasco Police Department noticed us and stopped by," Johns says. "He stopped by and took our picture and put it on the facebook page, and that got us more volunteers."

Johns said up to 80 people would stop by to get food, though not all of them were homeless.

"Once word got out, we would start getting people who lived in the Thunderbird Motel," he said. "They're not homeless, but they are low income, and the meals help them."

But in October, Pasco city officials also noticed Johns, and told him if he wanted to keep handing out food to the needy, he would need to be in an area zoned as industrial, and he would need a permit.

He says the permitting process has taken longer than expected, mostly because he's never gone through such a process, and was unsure of what all he would need before his request could be heard by the Pasco Planning Commission.

Feeding the Homeless Ministries is on the agenda for the agency's April 20th meeting.

Johns and other volunteers haven't been able to provide food to the dozens of needy children and adults who regularly lined up 6 nights a week for meals that varied from pancakes on a Saturday morning, to chili dogs on a Thursday night.

"We had people tell us that they only got to eat once a day, and that's when we were out there," Johns said.

If the requested permits are approved, the group will resume handing out meals, but they'll move to the parking lot of the Pasco Police Training Center.

Johns has asked the community to speak in support of the group's efforts at the Planning Commission on April 20, at 7:00 PM at Pasco City Hall.

Anyone who is interested in volunteering can contact the group through its facebook page, and Riverview 7th Day Adventists Church has set up a trust fund for the organization to collect donations until they're granted 501c3 status.