MANCHESTER, Tenn. (WTVF) — Two women in Manchester weren't looking for credit when they began volunteering for an amazing cause. However, the people they help are wanting to shower them with praise.
Andrea Wix and Brandi Johnson stood at the back of van, filling Styrofoam boxes with chicken, potatoes, macaroni and cheese, and green vegetables the two of them made.
"Whatever's on sale is what we buy!" Wix said.
This has been going on for about a year. Wix and Johnson feel called to do this work.
"Sometimes this is the only home cooked meal that they get," Wix said. "Sometimes when we pull up, we have a few waiting in line because they haven't ate."
Several times a week, Wix and Johnson get meals to people living in hotels in Manchester. They also take meals to people who don't have a place to stay at all.
"Anyone is welcome," Johnson said. "It's the homeless, the ones in need, anyone who needs a home cooked meal, who's going through hard times."
"It's like having 250 children that we love dearly," Wix agreed.
People in the Manchester community donate food and money for the two to do this. It always just seems to work out.
"Sometimes we're like, 'we have less than a hundred dollars to feed three hundred people!'" Wix said. "We go to the store, and there it is. It's on sale."
They have kept this up through everything.
"Andrea was diagnosed with breast cancer earlier in the year," Johnson said.
After surgeries, Wix is now in remission.
"There's work to be done!" Wix said.
"There's work to be done," Johnson agreed. "God says, 'feed his people, and we are feeding his people.'"
As I followed Wix and Johnson delivering the meals, I was struck by how many people came over wanting to share something about them.
"They help so many people," one woman said. "I am so grateful to God for them, and I know many are."
"The Lord's hand is right there with them," a man agreed. "They'll be going up there."
He pointed to the sky.
"We don't know what we would have done if you had not been here," a man told Wix and Johnson, taking a box of food.
"Do we cook good?" Johnson asked a woman standing in her doorway.
"Yeah!" she laughed.
Before I left Manchester, I asked Wix and Johnson if the people have anything in common who take these meals.
"People wanting to be loved, wanting to be seen," Johnson said.
"To have a conversation, to be treated as people," Wix nodded.
"As long as there's life, there's hope," a woman said, watching Wix and Johnson head out to their next stop. "The Lord died for everybody."
"We're thankful for them," Johnson said of the people on their stops. "They're thankful for us."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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