In what has become a regular ritual in the area, a steady trickle of pickups and minivans pulled into a parking lot at Miller Farms in Clinton, Maryland, one Wednesday morning in March. The drivers were on a mission: to fill their vehicles with whatever edible and drinkable products were available, bring them back to their churches and share them with people in need.

 Volunteers from the John F. Kennedy Council of the Knights of Columbus, farm owner Phil Miller and Father Michael Briese had a smooth-running system for greeting the drivers, loading up cases of water, tea and snacks, and moving the vehicles down the line. About 20 drivers were expected that morning from area Catholic parishes and small and large Protestant churches.

About once or twice monthly, Father Briese has been organizing such food pickup events at various locations in Southern Maryland. After using the grounds of Miller Farms once before, the priest said Phil Miller was thrilled to be able to provide his parking lot and equipment again. Periodically that morning, Miller would bring around a forklift to scoot away empty food pallets and move loaded ones into more convenient locations. He smiled as he watched the process unfold.

A main loads a truck with supplies for the poor on March 10 at Miller Farms in Clinton. (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)

That this day’s available donations were primarily bottled beverages and snack foods was no deterrent to the enthusiasm of the drivers picking up goods. As Father Briese explained: “people need to hydrate, especially the elderly.” And for poor families or homeless people living in tents, having a few cans of La Croix flavored sparkling water or some sweet tea could be a welcome treat.

The donations were provided by B.K. Miller Company, a wholesale distributor for office and vending machine provisions – hence the supplies of beverages and snack chips. Not coincidentally, B.K. Miller is owned by Phil Miller’s cousin, another branch of the prominent family rooted in southern Prince George’s County.

 Renee Higgins pulled up a minivan to get supplies for Temple of the Living God Worldwide Deliverance Ministries. Her father, the pastor of the church, would be coming a short time later with another vehicle. “We’re collecting for four churches,” she explained.

 Though the Temple of the Living God is a relatively small congregation, with about 50 participants in a typical week, Higgins said, “we’ve always reached out to the less fortunate among us. Many of us are just a step away from needing help ourselves.” That day’s supplies would be shared among four small churches, she said.

Father Michael Briese, assigned since February to a special ministry to the poor in Southern Maryland, joins volunteers at Miller’s Farm in Clinton on March 10, loading up vehicles with supplies for those in need. The priest earlier served as pastor of St. Mary's Parish in Newport, where he also ministered to the poor in Southern Maryland. (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)

Maria Ayala from St. Bernardine of Siena Parish in Suitland, Maryland, quickly shuffled around a few things in the back of her minivan as the volunteers loaded it with cases of drinks. A tambourine and a Spanish-language Confirmation textbook were moved out of the way. Most of the recipients of the supplies would be parishioners, she said. The church’s members include many Central American immigrants who have been hit hard financially by the COVID 19 pandemic.

 Bishop Larry Sturgis, Higgins’ father, said his congregation at Temple of the Living God assists 300-400 people a month, from throughout the area, “the homeless, the hungry, wherever the need may be. We have plenty of working people who are hungry.” Most of those they assist are long-time Marylanders who have been a part of the community most of their lives, if not going back generations, he said. “A lot of people have lost their jobs.”

Women collect diapers and baby supplies for the Forestville Pregnancy Center from items supplied by Food for the Poor at a Feb. 25 distribution at St. Mary's of Piscataway Parish in Clinton. (Photo by Donald Ramsey)

Father Briese organizes the donation-sharing events as part of his relatively new job in a special ministry to the poor in Southern Maryland. Sometimes that means he’s orchestrating a huge food distribution event, often working out of his car. A few weeks earlier, Food for the Poor provided a 20-ton truckload of food, personal care items, winter coats and clothing. That shipment was distributed at St. Mary Parish in Piscataway in a similar procedure to the one at Miller Farms.

 Other days, Father Briese’s job involves handing out bags of food here and there, to people living in tents, or who are barely scraping by in their homes. That day, he was looking forward to what might be a rather big triumph, helping a woman who has been sleeping in her car get a more conventional place to live.

 The woman, in her 50s, works at a Safeway, but can’t scrape together the money for deposits on housing and utilities, Father Briese said. He’d arranged with Pat Coyle, another volunteer at Miller Farms that morning, for the woman to rent a house on property Coyle manages, the Body of Christ Farm, a historic faith-based community property in Waldorf, Maryland. The woman was going to visit later that day and see if it would suit her.

Pat Coyle was among the volunteers collecting items for the poor at Miller's Farm in Clinton on March 10. (CS photo/Patricia Zapor)

Father Briese explained that he had a plan for her to pay the bulk of each month’s rent, while a dozen different churches had agreed to pay the small balance, one month each. At the end of a year, he expects she will have been able to save enough money to cover deposits on her own place.

 Coyle also plays another role in Father Briese’s food distribution network. She shops for the food and other products distributed through the network of church pantries. “I find the bargains,” she said.

 The teamwork of people including Coyle, the various drivers collecting food, the Knights of Columbus, the Miller family and all the people at churches and elsewhere in the community who are doing outreach epitomizes what Father Briese sees as essential in his ministry and what the entire people of God should be doing.

Phil Miller drives a forklift, helping to set up boxes of items for Southern Maryland’s poor supplied by the organization Food for the Poor and distributed on Feb. 25 at St. Mary's Church of Piscataway in Clinton. (Photo by Michele Fulk)

“When I look into the faces of the poor – men, women children – I see the face of Christ,” Father Briese said. “He was born poor, and he died poor. But when he came he left us the greatest gift of all.”

 He said a reaction he often gets from the people he helps is of disbelief that anyone actually cares about them.

 “I tell them, God created you out of divine love in His image and likeness,” he said. “He has a role for you to play in unfolding His kingdom. The question for you is, ‘what is my role to play.’”