About First Fruit Ministries
The First Fruit Story
In 1998, founder Rick Stoker began bringing food and supplies to homeless, runaway children in downtown Wilmington.
This outreach soon expanded to include individuals living under bridges, women caught in trafficking and the commercial sex industry, and local gangs.
Feeling deeply compelled, Rick left his medical sales career and lived under a bridge to immerse himself in the homeless community. Hearing the cries of women trapped in cycles of addiction and exploitation solidified his mission to bring hope to those in hidden and desperate situations. Later that year, he partnered with Lee Anna Letino, who brought expertise in international development, to establish a nonprofit focused on serving the homeless.
The Stokers began hosting weekly family-style dinners for the homeless, a tradition that continues three times per week today, in conjunction with a street outreach program to deliver food & supplies to the streets twice a week.
Realizing the need for stable housing, they launched a transitional program in 2000 for women rescued from trafficking. Over time, their campus expanded to include supportive housing, an outreach center with essential services, and a food pantry.
Through 25 years of ministry, the Stokers have shared meals, provided shelter, and supported hundreds of men, women, and families transitioning from homelessness to stability.
Meet Rick and Lee Anna
First Fruit Ministries timeline
1998
Rick begins feeding runaway children in downtown Wilmington. This quickly grew into serving commercial sex workers, gang members, and the homeless community.
1999
Rick starts a street church for the homeless and rents a small house to care for the unsheltered during Hurricane Floyd. Rick and Lee Anna meet in September and begin developing a women’s shelter in the N. 4th Street district.
2000
Rick and Lee Anna get married and invite the first resident into their transitional housing program. Lee Anna establishes First Fruit Ministries and gains nonprofit status for the organization.
2001
The women’s transitional housing program expands to serve families as pregnant residents bring their infants home.
2002
The food pantry begins as a small grocery giveaway from the porch of the women’s shelter to residents.
2003
The City of Wilmington creates an ordinance that bans supportive housing programs from operating within a half-mile radius of each other.
2004
First Fruit purchases an abandoned strip mall near the Shipyards on the southside of Wilmington.
2005
Renovations on the Vance Street property are complete and the ministry doubles its capacity. Rick and Lee Anna welcome a daughter, Sophia.
2009
Men’s mentorship transitional home opens on Gordon Rd.
2014
Urban Missions Program is launched to train and equip people experiencing homelessness.
2015
Formally open Outreach Center with showers, a laundromat, medical clinic.
2016
FFM adds medical care to Street Outreach in partnership with MedNorth Health Center Nurse Practitioner, providing wound care, disease testing, and medical assessments in homeless camps.
2018
Hurricane Florence rips through roof and center of building; FFM re-builds Outreach Center and makes building improvements. First Fruit’s teams re-housed over 300 households of New Hanover County residents displaced by the Hurricane.
2020
All volunteers are quarantined during COVID-19 and the staff continue providing emergency services through street outreach. 5.11 House opens w/ 8 beds for human trafficking victims and 2 off-site locations for men/families and those in active addiction.
2022
The Outreach Center opens on Tuesdays to serve women; the Food Pantry adds an additional day for moms offering diapers, wipes, and baby formula.
2023
Celebrating 25 years!
Meet the First Fruit Team
Board members
Chairperson Aaron Lindquist
Attorney, Self Employed/Coastal Legal Counsel
Treasurer Bradley Cotton
Property Manager, Cotton Property Management
Secretary Ruffin Bailey
Self-Employed
Ronald Burcham
President, Burcham Plumbing Contracting, Inc.
Rick Stoker*
CEO, First Fruit Ministries
Dale Miller
Production Engineer, Carolina Christian Radio
James Connolley
Owner, JC Surf, LLC and Pastor, Wrightsville Beach Baptist Church
David Caplan
Insurance Agent, NC Farm Bureau
Melissa Edmiston
Realtor, HomeSmart Expert Realty
