Feed The 5,000 ready with free meals for all in Detroit Lakes

Detroit Lakes , MN (KDLM) – Feed the 5,000 officially kicked off at Christian Fellowship Church in Detroit Lakes yesterday.

The week-long event hosted at the church will provide anyone who stops by their Highland Drive location a free meal of either a hamburger, hot dog, or bratwurst.

Pastor Tim Rice, of Christian Fellowship Church and an event organizer, said the original Feed The 5,000 event was hosted by the church in 2015, even though that event actually fed about 5,200 people. Rice said he thinks they may top that number from eight years ago because they noticed a lot of fun at the original event and word travels.

“One of the things that we really experienced (at the 2015 event) was a lot of people just sitting around and having great fellowship,” said Rice, during a recent stop into Hodgepodge on KDLM. “They are sitting around having a meal together, they are sitting out in the parking lot, they’re at picnic tables, they’re inviting their friends and their neighbors. It was just a great place to have, kind of, a great big community picnic.”

He also said people are encouraged to stop by more than once this week because one line is a famous religious parable stuck out to him, which is something he wanted to make sure the event replicated.

“One line in there that really jumped out to me as a pastor is when Jesus was feeding the 5,000, he fed them until they were satisfied, or until they were full, or until they’d had enough,” said Rice. 

He added the food has been ordered and it’s on-site in a refrigerated truck, so it needs to get eaten by someone.

The Feed The 5,000 event will be open at Christian Fellowship Church on Highland Drive from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. every day this week and will wrap up on Friday, June 30.