10 GROUNDCOVER NEWS COMMUNITY SERVICE OCTOBER 17, 2025 Fed-Up Ministries Director appears on the Kelly Clarkson Show and wins major grant Everybody has seen the Fed-Up Ministries food truck around town at some point, and if not, you will soon. FedUp Ministries, a Southeast Michigan-based organization focused on addressing food insecurity and homelessness, has been feeding low-income and homeless people from Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor for years. They not only provide food to sustain life but also food for thought and spiritual growth while providing employment and volunteering opportunities in our community. The ministry has already provided over 75,000 meals and 10,000 hygiene services (shower and laundry) to clients, demonstrating their profound community impact and commitment to serving those in need. FedUp Ministries was featured on The Kelly Clarkson Show, a daytime variety talk show, on June 4, 2025. The show surprised the ministry's director, Pastor Anna Taylor-McCants, with a $100,000 Pilot Pen G2 Overachievers Grant. The grant recognizes individuals who go above and beyond to make a positive impact in their community. The grant will help FedUp Ministries build a permanent hub with a commercial kitchen to expand their work providing meals and services to those in need. I asked Pastor Anna how her organization got on the show and won the grand prize of $100,000. Last summer Fed-Up Ministries’ board president Sarah Tears texted Pastor Anna and fellow board member Tosha Lee about MIKE JONES Groundcover vendor No. 113 the overachiever award on the Kelly Clarkson Show and suggested nominating Pastor Anna. Lee and Pastor Anna's daughter Laynee started documenting why Pastor Anna should win the award. The proposal had to be handwritten, so they decided to let Laynee write from her perspective and in her own hand why her mother should be awarded this grand prize. Pastor Anna appeared on the show as a finalist, not knowing she had won. Clarkson greeted her by calling her “a rad human — you’re so incredible.” During the segment, Pastor Anna describes what FedUp has done, and what it hopes to do with the award. When the Pilot Pen G2 vice president and Clarkson informed her she was the winner and handd her the symbolic large check, the indescribable look on Pastor Anna’s face said it all. Fed-Up is currently serving in a mobile capacity, providing prepared hot meals, showers, laundry services and more. But the grant will enable Pilot Pen G2 Vice President, Pastor Anna and Kelly Clarkson pictured left to right. them to explore a land purchase and construction of a dedicated facility to meet the needs of the ministry and the communities they serve. Fed-Up Ministries’ schedule of program services Tuesdays: Food truck at the Ypsilanti District Library at 1:30-2:30 pm. Food Truck also 1st and 4th Tuesdays 5 - 6:30 p.m. at the Peace Hub,1515 South Harris Road. Wednesdays: Food truck 12-1 p.m. at Liberty Plaza in downtown Ann Arbor. Note: During the winter months the Wednesday meals will be served at the Daytime Warming Centers in Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti. Worship service and food truck from 5-7 p.m. at Growing Hope in downtown Ypsilanti. Showers from 4-7 p.m. on Wednesdays at LEAF, 411 E. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti. Note: showers will not be available during the month of November due to winterization. Note: Care Based Safety crisis response services are also available at all these times and locations. Like what you read and want to get involved with helping the unhoused in Washtenaw County? There are employment and volunteer opportunities available! Visit their website: fedupminitries.org Where two rivers converge J. SCHEIER Groundcover contributor Recently while eating lunch outside, I was privy to a conversation between a Groundcover vendor and a nearby encouraging person, telling them they were doing a great job. The vendor seemed unsure, but continued to greet persons with a friendly demeanor and sold one or two papers while I finished lunch. Though several people bought the paper, other pedestrians returned the greeting with a slight and sideways glance, as eye contact seemed too risky or otherwise unwarranted, and maybe a “no thanks” or a smile. Others, no response at all. The contrast of the pedestrians to the vendor and the encouraging comrade reminds me of the disparity between persons. Is it what is on the outside that separates us from one another? Is it the clothing? The jaunt in step, with quick errands to complete? The conversations with each other? Or if the wheelchair dependent, sitting mostly alone, questioning their own confidence and abilities, was too different? Are we not all like that, at least a bit on the inside? A bit unsure but continuing on? Risking both connection or disregard, can we not relate? Do we not know of the basic human need to be honored simply because we are human? Over the weekend, I used the phrase “there but the Grace of God go I” and my 20-something son didn’t understand the phrase. So I explained. All my life I have been given family, friends, opportunities, support, mental and physical health, no addictions, no physical ailments. I was born at the right time, in the right place with the right people in order to succeed. This is not something I earned, it was a gift. Hence, on occasion I remind myself to abstain from assumptions. - judgement and The us and the thems. (A best case scenario rather than the “us vs them”). I wonder, why are we so unable to speak with people with different appearances, different lives, differentyou name it? And each day, I ponder my impact and what can I do. How do I not sink into the rabbit hole of despair? Do I simply live with blinders on and pretend to not see the discord? Not an option I recommend. Today I read an excerpt from Richard Rohr (a writer and a priest known for his all-inclusive activities — feel free to Google his name) and I paraphrase: we all have tasks and jobs but in the end it is all the same. We are here to “uniquely be divine love in a way that no one else can or will.” As a patron of Groundcover News and a former contributor to Streetwise in Chicago, I bought my paper from the vendor. I received an expression of thanks and as usual, I received the vendor's blessing for today’s goodness. I am not sure, but it seems that I was given the greater gift that day. I was treated as a full person with eye contact, a smile and a blessing. May we remember the translation of the Ubuntu proverb, “I am because we are.” Thank you for listening.
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