“C’mon, let me show you my favorite room,” Audrey Krooswyk says stepping into a small rectangular room where boxed and canned goods line the wire shelves. A smile lights her face. This pantry, just off the spartan, industrial kitchen in the barn at First Fruits Farm, is the heart of Audrey and Mike’s First Fruits ministry. 

“I came home from a medical mission trip in October 2018 and told Mike I felt like God wanted me to feed people. He held my hand and said, ‘Okay, we’ll pray about that.’ Victoria Peasley [then director of local outreach at Calvary] told me about food programs the schools had. She suggested I ask the principal at my local school in Washington Township if there was a program I could jump into.” 

There wasn’t, but the principal was open to letting the Krooswyks try something new. He offered to send out an email to school families and gave Audrey a short list of families who could use some extra help. She started packing a grocery sack with food for each family to pick up at the school every week.

Since Mike and Audrey had finished giving toward their monthly commitment to the Even More building project at Calvary, that money now went to buy the groceries. “By January of 2019, I was packing food bags at our kitchen table, and I thought, ‘This is amazing! We’re helping five families. We’re doing it!’ That’s where I thought it would end. But honestly, God is so much bigger than we thought. Every time we turn around, there’s another opportunity to bless people.”

The list of food bag families has grown to 28 and the whole ministry idea has gotten bigger too. Last summer, Mike had an idea. “Hey,” he told Audrey one afternoon, “throw a pair of boots on. I want to show you something.”

“I’m going to put this on my wall someday,” Audrey says, “‘Grab your boots and a beer. I want to show you something.’ That’s how all of our great adventures start.”

Mike drove her out to a slice of farmland with a rutted gravel drive and metal-framed barn full of junk. “This place was rundown and needed some TLC,” he admits. “But we prayed about it and made a deal with the owner.” And then got to work clearing junk and shoring up structures.

“I love that Mike has vision,” Audrey says. “There are so many things I have passed on because I can’t see like he does.”

Every Friday for the last 8 months, the big door in the barn at First Fruits Farm goes up and people start showing up. They pick up a bag of dry goods marked with their family’s code so no names are used, choose from fresh produce spread on a table, and pull a carton of eggs and a gallon of milk from coolers with glass doors.

Audrey is there too. She greets familiar faces and helps those who are new learn the system, careful to be welcoming but not pushy. “What I’m hoping for is community, to form relationships with these families. What’s really in my heart for all these families and all the kids is to feel included: eat the same snacks the other kids do, come out to the farm and play with the animals, have Christmas toys. I know those are just things, but I’m hoping that those things help form relationships so that kids and families feel loved.”

“We can feed people and have sustainability in this,” Mike says. “That’s why you see the farm at the center. If we put in 3 acres of sweet corn, then people come to help harvest, and some of the ladies on the list come to help freeze it, now families have options. Because if you have to choose between a box of Ramen that will last the week and a pint of blueberries that will last 30 seconds, you pick the Ramen. For a lot of people, the ability to eat fresh and healthy isn’t there. It’s either filling or fresh.”

“If we sell a couple dozen of our eggs for a premium because the chickens are pasture-raised, that offsets the cost of 5 dozen store-bought eggs for families on the list. Same for the animals we take to market. I’m working out in my head, if I buy this many hogs this year, then I’ll have this much meat to keep, this much to sell, and this much to give away.”

“What we sell goes to buy more animals next year so we can give more away,” Audrey says. “We just put in blueberries and strawberries so we’ll have U-pick next year. Some to sell, some to give away. Pumpkins will go into a corner plot so families can choose a pumpkin this fall.”

“I’m hoping to teach some of the women to can and do some cooking classes. That’s what this space on the farm is for – the kitchen, the animals, all of it. We’re hoping to have more fellowship.”

“Let’s face it, some people think Christians aren’t cool,” Mike adds. “We have a stereotype, just a little bit. So what we see is people coming out here and being surprised that they can just hang out and let their kids play with the animals. There’s a pond out there that will be stocked soon. You want to go fishing with your kid? Go ahead. You want to have your graduation party here? Sure.”

“It’s expensive to do that kind of stuff – go to a cooking class, go strawberry or blueberry picking, take your kid fishing. I have more fishing gear than I need. What better place to use it than here?”

“And people just give,” Audrey says. “Some people don’t want to get dirty or be out at the farm so they’ll give money. Some people tell me, ‘Hey, I’m great at couponing,” and drop off food. Other people show up and get dirty and sweaty swinging a hammer. Some of our families who have gotten on their feet and off the food bag list show up to help. That’s community fellowship.”

Mike says, “I’ve come over before and a field has been tilled. A farmer tells me he didn’t have anything to do so he came and tilled. Every person has their skillset and they’re using it.”

“I felt bad about asking,” Audrey says. “I’m self-sufficient. I didn’t think people would understand what we’re doing here, but they do. It’s amazing. I work for a really big God. I’ve come into the pantry several times and cried because there were so few things to put in the bags. And then money comes in or a donation does. I went to Calvary one time to pick up donations and texted Mike, ‘My van is full. The kids can’t sit anywhere.’”

“Standing in the pantry when it’s full, that’s a moment for me. Growing up I never had food. I don’t mean, ‘Oh, I didn’t have Lucky Charms,’ I mean I remember scraping mold off food to eat or only eating at school that day. Standing in this pantry, it makes me happy-cry a lot because people’s basic needs are being met.”

“I tell people, ‘I’ve been where you’re at,’” Mike says. “There was a time we would have been food bag recipients if we had found somebody to give us a bag. God has challenged us. All you can do is trust.”

“God has stripped everything away from me,” Audrey says. “Everything that was supposed to make me feel secure and safe. My mom left when I was 10. My dad was an alcoholic, and he died a couple of years ago. My sister died. We went through financial hardships when the kids were small. God stripped everything away and still blessed me so big. He constantly shows up.”

“When God takes everything and you surrender to what he’s going to do, he changes your heart. He says, ‘Hand me that. Can I carry this for you?’ I didn’t want to do that. But when I did, he took this thing I thought I really needed, and said, ‘Here, I’ve got this for you instead, and it’s much more beautiful.’”

“He’s proved over and over we can trust him if we just let him do what he’s going to do,” Mike says. “All I can do is trust.” 

“We got knocked over the head a few times before we really saw,” Audrey laughs. “But God is faithful. I never imagined, never would have planned for a life like this.”

“I had visions of a lake house, not a farm,” Mike says. “I’m supposed to be slowing down a little bit in life, but now I get off one job and come here to my next. But my kids love to be here. My wife loves to be here. I enjoy it. It’s a calling. It’s not really work.”

“I’ve been so blessed in doing this,” Audrey says. “It’s stressful sometimes, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.”

Find out more about First Fruits Gives on Facebook, Instagram, or at blessingbagswt@gmail.com.