Theresa Hicks' prayer of three years has been answered. This month, the executive director of Calvary Downtown Outreach (CDO) will move her food pantry and outdoor worship service to the very location she looked at years before. Back then, she "didn't have the connections" to base her ministry in the Eastern Sahara Avenue area known as 'heroin alley." Today, thanks to a newly-forged partnership with Trinity Life Center and the City Impact Center, Hicks believes her nine-year-old program to serve "the least of these" is poised to "save more people than we can ever imagine."

Only God knows how many people CDO has helped to save since it was founded in 2001, but Hicks knows exactly how many the program has helped to feed.  Using food “as a tool to share the gospel,” CDO’s focus is a food pantry which provides grocery assistance to referrals and registered residents of four zip codes, as well as a Saturday outdoor barbecue and worship service.  In 2009, 11,700 meals were served during CDO’s Saturday outreach and 4,157 households were blessed by the food pantry’s “grocery assistance” program. Operating entirely through food and financial donations, CDO has found an increase in demand for its services recently as, according to Hicks, “the working poor have become the unemployed poor and their jobs- many of which are in the service industry- will be the last to come back.”

The food pantry at CDO has been “busting at the seams” at its current location of 700 Lola Avenue in North Las Vegas, said Hicks, so “God’s timing is perfect” in giving CDO the opportunity to be part of the developing City Impact Center (CIC). Pastor Vic Caruso of Trinity Life Center, parent organization of CIC with a mission to bring independent and self-sufficient ministries to one of Las Vegas’ most challenged neighborhoods, also believes God’s hand is at work in bringing CDO to them. Caruso stated that both he and Hicks believe that providing food is a tremendous opportunity to serve those in need and build relationships that will open the door to share Christ.  As Hicks puts it, CIC “has the same vision as we do: to reach the inner city with Christ and the relational evangelism we’ve been practicing over the past nine years.”

Hicks anticipates that many more people will be served by her ministry at the new location because of the families already involved in CIC’s existing programs and because of the nature of the area she’s moving into. CIC is located at 950 E. Sahara Blvd. in Las Vegas, near Maryland Parkway.  Both Hicks and Caruso describe the neighborhood surrounding CIC as “drug infested.”  Hicks called the region a “dark area that we need to shine light into.” 

Being a “center of refuge” is exactly the mission Caruso said he has for the CIC.  The facility is rising up to replace a relocated Christian school.  The goal, as Caruso explained, is for the CIC to be “a platform for the work God wants to do here” and a venue for self-funded and like-minded organizations to serve and share Christ.

The Helping Kids Clinic at CIC currently serves about 100 children each week, said Caruso, with completely free services that are expanding to include more medical care as well as dental services.  The after-school program at CIC provides tutoring, food, mentoring and a safe place for approximately 100 school-aged kids in the neighborhood.  Hicks believes the addition of the food pantry will allow CDO and CIC to start to build relationships, through Christ’s transforming and redemptive love, with the relatives of the children in the existing programs.

With every household that is served through the food pantry, prayer and the gospel are shared.  “We are going to see entire families saved,” said Hicks with great passion and excitement. 
The CDO Saturday worship service, which is held outdoors in conjunction with a barbecue lunch, provides an opportunity for families to get involved in church services and learn the gospel, said Hicks.  Trinity Life Center is also a resource for individuals and families saved through the CIC.  In addition, people who are hungry and disconnected from society and Christ benefit from the Saturday program, Hicks explained.  “The food we provide settles people so they can hear the message that our pastors from different churches give,” said Hicks.  Ultimately, she believes that drug addictions and other issues that plague so many of the people CDO serves are “spiritual conditions” that can be healed through the message of Christ’s love that CDO conveys.

The opportunity to serve and save more people will bring more opportunities for volunteers and donations as well, said Hicks.  Currently, more than thirty different fellowships throughout Las Vegas are involved in the food pantry and outdoor worship services. Area grocery stores and businesses also help contribute.  The demand, though, is growing.  Since CDO does not receive any local, state or federal funds, it all comes down to willing donors and volunteers to make CDO’s mission a reality, said Hicks.

To find out more about Calvary Downtown Outreach, visit www.calvarydowntownoutreach.org or contact Hicks at (702) 474-3030.  Learn more about City Impact Center at www.cityimpactlv.com or by phone at (702) 734-7952.