Food That Lasts

I have been walking solo this past week but had a chance to walk yesterday morning with my friend and walking partner Mary. Mary, a fiery redhead and one of the kindest people I know, caught me up on the news in her life. She is newly retired and was able to spend most of last week with the team at our church who were gathered to do community outreach.

Our church hosted a group of German and Swiss and one Hungarian as well as others from America to meet and pray. This was a partnership with two other ministries to reach people with The Good News. Not the good news about what your government is going to do for you, the good news that there is a bigger "world" than what we see and hear about on the news. (It was a good week to dispense good news with so much bad news out there.) The Good News that eternal life is ours for the asking. The focus was training laborors for the harvest. Several community outreachs were planned. In our area they went into the Eastside of St. Paul to low income housing areas with a semi-truck load of donated new clothing and $3500 of food to give away.

One hundred volunteers helped serve the people who came. There were challenges. They had done flyer handouts in the area but most of the Somali, Hmong, Viet Namese and Mexican immigrants cannot read English. Word of mouth on the day of the big giveaway carried the day. People told others to go to the parking lot where "some white people" were giving away food and clothes. When people came, they usually came on foot. Volunteers sometimes walked several blocks helping them carry their goods home. Each recipient was given two garbage bags and told to take all the clothes wanted. Food was given in cases or boxes and was a challenge to get home without cars. I am sure those who received were blessed in these times of rising food prices. It gave a little security to have an extra source of food mid-month. Food shelves are heavily used but many of these immigrant families are large.

We are instructed to "feed the hungry and clothe the poor". Clothing the poor is frequently done with hand me downs. It was a thrill to give away new clothes. The clothes were seconds donated by the manufacturer. Of those blessed, the workers received the most blessings. We will continue to pray the seeds sown will grow. Times ahead will be tough for many in this country and it is always good to help people connect to their true source of help. Their true source of help is not the government.

Link: http://www.vision-europe.eu/invasionamerica/03204f9b2a0edff03.php