Upcoming fundraiser helps 5Loaves2Fish continue feeding community
Photo L-r: executive chef Josh Miller, Bill and Michelle Smith and Kate Saffell.
By Cameryn Cass
Sun contributor
It was unseasonably cold for the height of summer as I made my way through the ever-busy Fishtown to 5Loaves2FishNMI housed in the basement of the Leland Community United Methodist Church.
The wind was howling, but the many “Community Meal Tonight” signs around town remained upright, pointing toward the church, advertising the free weekly event.
When I arrived, Michelle and Bill White, the two co-founders of the group, were inside, working.
“Were the arrows pointing the right way?” Michelle asked of the signs.
I said yes with a laugh, and looked around the welcoming space.
Kate Saffell, who Michelle called “our everything,” was bustling about the kitchen, helping prepare the many pizzas, brats, beans and salads that were to be served in a few short hours.
“A lot of people come at four and stay ’til six,” said Michelle of the community meal. “It’s just about community. Anyone can come.”
Throughout the week, 5Loaves2Fish travels around the greater area, serving meals in Traverse City, Suttons Bay, Lake Leelanau, Northport and, of course, Leland.
“We meet people where they’re at,” said Michelle.
And it’s Josh Miller, the executive chef of the operation, who is tasked with cooking the meals.
“He’s for sure a chef,” said Bill. “Executive is a bit fancy.”
Sometimes, Bill went on, cooking at 5Loaves2Fish can be a “wild card.”
“Fifty people will show up to Veteran’s Park one day, and the next 70 will come,” he said.
“So, we set up for 80,” said Miller. “We bring the extra food back or send it somewhere else.”
Interestingly enough, it’s that very spirit of successfully serving the hungry – however many there may be – with limited resources where 5Loaves2Fish draws its name.
It’s a biblical one, from Matthew 14:13-21, where Jesus feeds five thousand men with just five loaves of bread and two fish.
“Those stories happen here all the time,” said Michelle.
Miller related his experience of preparing meals with this kind of uncertainty to the television show “Chopped.”
“You know the one, where they open their basket and it’s like, ‘Here, make a meal out of this,'” he said. “I love it.”
Except he’s often multiplying the recipes 16-fold.
Volunteers help make it happen, and so does Miller’s past experience. Having worked at Camps Leelanau & Kohahna, it wasn’t unusual to feed 400 kids a day.
In fact, before this role, Miller cooked in Glen Arbor for 36 years.
He was at the Good Harbor Grill for ten of them, then took a job cooking at the aforementioned camps. He learned the art of butchering at Anderson’s Market and worked at the Cherry House, too.
For the past year, he’s been at 5Loaves2Fish.
“And he’s only 32 years old,” said Bill.
Miller laughed, and said that a friend first encouraged him to volunteer, which he did in late February 2025.
As Michelle remembers it, she welcomed Miller in and gave him a brief tour. She showed him where the walk-in was, introduced him to some of the volunteers and then headed upstairs to join the rest of the crew for a meeting.
“He made mac and cheese, curry, soup – all while we were in this meeting,” she said. “So, I asked if he wanted a job.”
He eventually accepted, and on May 1 of last year, Miller started full time.
For someone who’s worked his career in the food industry’s famously long hours, Miller said having weekends and nights off the past year has been “unbelievable.”
What’s more, he’s no longer serving patrons who could sometimes be, in a word, “entitled.”
“Now I’m serving people who are hungry, who have no entitlement,” he said. “They just appreciate being fed and they know it’s made with love.”
“And it’s good,” Bill added. “We’re not going to serve guests something we wouldn’t eat.”
Since it started in 2019, 5Loaves2Fish has served a little over 100,000 meals.
Food Rescue, a Goodwill program out of Traverse City, supplies the group with 75% of its food, and the other 25% or so is purchased, Michelle explained.
To help with such purchases and the greater work they do, 5Loaves2Fish is hosting its fifth annual fundraiser on August 11 at Dune Bird Winery in Northport.
“We’ll have fairly authentic Mexican food,” said Michelle. “There will be an upscale taco bar, side salads, desserts.”
Geno and the Big Change band will soundtrack the evening and five or six speakers from other like-programs will talk. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the event ends at 9 p.m.
“This fundraiser will support the 24,000 meals we’ll serve this year,” said Michelle.
Tickets are $100 online and $125 at the door. Since it was “crazy busy last year,” folks are encouraged to purchase tickets ahead of time.
“It’s all about community, inclusion, dignity,” said Michelle. “Food is the vehicle, love is the message.”
If you’re interested in volunteering, visit 5loaves2fishnmi.org or email 5loaves2fishnmi@gmail.com.
Update: the Aug. 11 Big Change Fundraiser for 5Loaves2Fish is sold out. But another fundraiser coming up on Tuesday, Sept. 22, from 4:45-6:45 pm at Northern Latitudes Distillery in Lake Leelanau still has capacity.
