Fresh Fruits Ministry was founded by Kati Thunborg in 2022. One day while praying, she had this vision for Fresh Fruit Fridays where she would hand out fresh fruit to those experiencing homelessness. As she prayed about it, she felt like the Lord was inviting her to partner with him to turn physical fruit into spiritual fruit (“Fruit unto Fruit”).

Soon after, Fresh Fruits Ministry was born and we began visiting homeless encampments around the city on foot. We’d wear backpack coolers and hand out fresh fruit, water, and snacks as we met people. We’d offer prayer, share the gospel, and lead people through salvation, healing, and deliverance. We saw God move in really powerful ways, and started providing Bibles to those getting saved!

Over time, we started building more and more relationships with those living in the camps. At that time we were serving six different locations on a regular basis. As we continued, we began feeling the importance of truly discipling those that we serve. We felt led to focus on a two specific locations. The city had just shut down a few of the camps that we were previously visiting and moved many of our friends to a temporary housing motel run by the Salvation Army, so we decided to focus our efforts there and on one specific camp that is arguably the roughest one in the city. Some call it “the last stop before death”. Narrowing our focus has allowed us to build deeper friendships and disciple in a more intentional way.

In May of 2023, the Salvation Army took notice of our efforts and asked us if we could begin serving dinner for those living in the temporary housing motel. Because of our amazing donors and volunteers, we were able to say yes! These Fellowship Dinners have been so special! We set the tables beautifully, serve delicious home-cooked food, and share a meal with those we serve.

We continue to run our Fresh Fruit Fridays program, handing out fresh fruit, waters, and snacks, while continuing to offer prayer, friendship and encouragement. In the winter we also hand out hot coffee, hand warmers, and other necessities as needed. When we hear about specific needs, we do everything we can to help meet those needs! If we can’t, we try to connect people with other organizations that can help.