From a young age, Wineta Hitchens has stood out for her compassionate nature and steadfast dedication to helping those in need.
"When I was a little girl, I had a heart for people when I saw them on the streets. I was drawn to them," said Hitchens, a Baton Rouge resident and Greensburg native. "I just always had that love and compassion. I didn't understand it and I didn't know why, but I knew I was different. I just knew I loved people and it didn't matter who they were or what color they were. … When my mom would take us to town, and I would see people on the streets and on the corner, I would cry."
Hitchens, 67, has accepted her passion for helping people as part of God's purpose for her life.
"It's rooted in me. I do it even when I don't want to do it," she said. "God planted that seed, and that seed began to grow."
Hitchens has continued to cultivate that vision as CEO and founder of Bread of Life Community Outreach Inc. The nonprofit organization gathers and provides essential items like clothing, food and hygiene products to individuals and families.
Wineta Hitchens
"We actually reach out to people in the community and service them with whatever the need is," Hitchens said. "I'm building my network, connecting with other organizations that can partner with me and just make a difference in the community."
Hichens has long been active in community outreach. Her work includes serving with St. Vincent de Paul Bishop Ott shelter and as the director of the mission ministry at Greater King Baptist Church, where she has been a member for more than 20 years.
"I always did it, but I was never at the forefront," she said.
Two years after retiring from her job at Girl Scouts of America, Hitchens said God opened a door for her to step to the forefront of Bread of Life in 2023.
"In 2021, I retired and said, 'I'm going to spend the rest of my life working for the kingdom of God in the community, serving the people,'" she said. "It's totally a God thing, and here I am."
It had been years in the making. Hitchens said God still had to prepare her for the endeavor.
"You know I had gone through some things, and a lot of things I didn't learn in school," she said. "I had to sit at his feet and be taught some things. … God wanted me to learn everything about him because my ministry was not in the church, it was outside the church. He said the people he called me to are people that don't look good, they don't feel good, they don't smell good. They don't talk right. He said, 'You're going to meet some people and serve those that other people are going to walk away from.'"
Hitchens first received the vision for Bread of Life in 1999. She was working at a bank when she heard a voice.
"The voice just spoke to me and said, 'I'm going to give you a business and I want you to call it Bread of Life Community Outreach,'" Hitchens said.
Hitchens asked a nearby co-worker if she had heard or said something.
"She said, 'No, I didn't say anything,' and we just kind of laughed it off," Hitchens said. "A few minutes later, a voice said that again, and I thought, am I losing my mind? What is going on?"
After the voice made the promise of a business a third time in a stronger tone, Hitchens said, "Then, it hit me that God was speaking to me."
The voice then said, 'Write it down and put it in the Bible.' That's where it started," she said.
In 2005, Hitchens' call into ministry came through another vision.
Hitchens referred to it as an "out-of-body experience," as she was standing in front of the Red Sea with angelic singing emanating from above. She then followed God to the foot of a huge cross.
"He said, 'I want you to go and tell my people to take back their birthright. The enemy is robbing them of who they are in Christ Jesus. Everything that they are going through, I've already taken care of it. I've paid the price. Go with that message,'" Hitchens recalled.
She eventually ended up on this huge altar, overlooking the world with people all around her. She was given a Bible and told to preach and teach the gospel.
"I just started reading the Scriptures, and people were beginning to get healed. They were beginning to get delivered," Hitchens said. "After a while, then God said enough. When he said enough, I woke up. I knew then I had a purpose, and I tell people I'm a woman on a mission. I have a purpose because God had a plan."
Hitchens said God called her to not limit herself with a label.
"Some people call me preacher. Some people call me evangelist. Some people call me minister," she said. "God said, 'If I need you to be an evangelist, you can go evangelize. If I need you to teach, you're going to be able to teach. If I need you to minister, you'll be able to minister. If I want you to serve, you're going to able to serve.'"
Hitchens said she's available for service, motivated by John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
She said he abides by that famous Scripture.
"God desires everybody to be saved. He desires to make that need. He gave us his best," she said.
For more on Bread of Life, call (225) 747-0516 or email [email protected].