21,000 Miles; 4,000 Volunteer Hours; 9 Vans; 1 New Website
On a rainy, blustery Thanksgiving morning in 2019, the new white van of the Order of Malta Mobile Ministries set off on its first assignment – to deliver flu vaccines to the homeless of downtown Los Angeles. Volunteer student nurses would meet the van at dawn at St. Francis Center on Hope Street, one of the toughest neighborhoods in Los Angeles. Working side by side, equipped only with vaccine shots and a generous supply of $5 McDonald gift cards, the student nurses and the small merry band of Knights of the Order of Malta provided flu vaccines and gift cards to the city’s homeless.
Fast forward to Thanksgiving 2024, the 5th Anniversary of the Order of Malta Mobile Ministries. A fleet of vans are now serving nine Regions nationwide: Los Angeles, San Francisco/Oakland, San Jose, Phoenix, St. Louis, Detroit, New Jersey, Colorado Springs/Denver, and the latest in New York City – all providing relief to the poor and the sick. In its fiscal year ending June 2024, the Order of Malta Mobile Ministries has logged in a combined 21,000 miles and almost 4,000 volunteer hours. Its founders, Tim Shannon, Dennis Diekmann, and Mike Psomas, envisioned an organization that would help improve community health by bringing services such as flu vaccinations, food pantry delivery, and clothing into the neighborhoods that needed them most.
Malta Mobile Ministries activities have expanded to the delivery of hygiene kits for the homeless, bringing Christmas gifts to children in tenement housing and farm workers, support of homeless veterans, transporting patients to clinics, delivering furniture to people rebuilding their lives, and assistance to various archdioceses and their programming.
To mark its five-year milestone, the Order of Malta Mobile Ministries (www.maltamobileministries.org) has launched a new website to further build awareness of its services with the goal of expanding its operations to more cities across the country.
If you’re a member of the Order and interested in operating a van in your region, please contact Tim Shannon at info@orderofmaltaministries.org
Photos from Thanksgiving 2019 -- first van.
