Thanksgiving Day 2019

On a rainy, blustery Thanksgiving Day 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.  For the volunteer student nurses and the members of the Order, it was a Thanksgiving Day they would never forget.

Just two days earlier, the Order of Malta Mobile Ministries received its official designation as a non-profit by the Federal government.  Its founders, Tim Shannon, KM, Dennis Diekmann, KM, and Mike Psomas, KM, envisioned an organization that would help improve community health by offering services such as flu vaccinations, food pantry delivery, clothing drives, and vision care right to the neighborhoods that needed them most.

The founders were all Knights of the Los Angeles location of the Western Association of The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes and of Malta (Order of Malta), a lay Catholic organization that has been in existence for more than nine hundred years and operates in more than one hundred countries.  The members of the order include Fras, Knights, Dames, and Chaplains. The charism of the Order is to practice and defend the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman faith and to practice charity towards our neighbors, especially the poor and the sick.

When COVID-19 struck in March 2020, the Order of Malta Mobile Ministries shifted its focus to what it believed was the greatest need — food insecurity.  COVID-19 caused shutdowns and produced hardship for many families. In the beginning of the shutdowns, the van delivered unused food from refrigerators and freezers in warehouses to organizations that would in turn provide the food to the needy.  

Over time, the Order of Malta Mobile Ministries would work with charity partners to establish a regular round of deliveries of fresh fruits and vegetables to Los Angeles’ neediest neighborhoods. The Order of Malta Mobile van is now on the road three days a week.  Since the spring of 2020 to the end of March 2023, it has delivered 1,283,613 pounds of fresh produce to the needy families Southern California.

In addition to the flu vaccine program, our activities have expanded to include jacket, backpack, and hygiene kit giveaways, distribution of bottles of water from the Shrine of Our Lady of Lourdes during World Day of the Sick, and Los Angeles Archdiocese events such as the OneLifeLA walk where the Order of Malta Mobile Ministries offers first aid and sunscreen to participants.

Since its first van in Los Angeles in 2019, the Order of Malta Mobile Ministries has added vans in San Jose, St. Louis, New Jersey, Pheonix, San Francisco/Oakland, Detroit, Colorado Springs / Denver and most recently New York City — all providing relief to the poor and the sick.  The Order of Malta Mobile Ministries is blessed to be able to serve our communities and we thank all of our charity partners nationwide who have worked alongside us.