Stop Hunger Now THIS Saturday

Well, we are almost there! Since the start of Lent in February, we have been engaged in a campaign with the Stop Hunger Now relief organization to provide meals for those stricken with hunger caused by poverty, tragedy, and/or disaster. You have heard the statistics that every three seconds someone dies from hunger related illnesses caused by malnutrition…half of those who perish are children! So far, Stop Hunger Now has packaged 93,943,437 meals for the impoverished in 76 different countries. This week, we will do our part to add to that total.

In 2011, we hosted a Stop Hunger Now event and packaged almost 23,000 meals! As we began Lent this year, we set a goal of packaging 25,000 meals. We exceeded that goal on Easter Sunday and increased it to 30,000 meals. Friends, let me tell you, in the three-plus weeks since Easter, we have exceeded THAT goal, too! Your generosity and faithfulness to this call and challenge to help people in the name of Jesus is encouraging and life-changing! As I mentioned in both services this past Sunday, what might just be a quarter in a basket, offering plate, or soup pot to us, is transformed into a life saving meal through Stop Hunger Now!

Our packaging event is this Saturday, April 20^th, in the Community Hall. The schedule is as follows:

-          The truck will arrive at 8:30am and we need help unloading and setting up the packing stations.
-          The first shift will run from 9:30-11:30am.
-          The second shift will run from 11:30-1:30pm.

As of right now, we need more help in the 11:30am-1:30pm shift. And yes, those who arrive at 9:30am are able to stay throughout the entire day, provided there is enough work for everyone (which there will be). If you have not registered for a shift yet, you can do so on the church website by clicking this link: http://www.cokeschapel.org/stophungernow.html.

A significant part of our Christian witness is to care for those less fortunate in the name of Jesus. When we show our generosity by caring for people who could never repay us, we are, as the Bible says, doing it for Jesus himself!

“Then these righteous ones will reply, ‘Lord, when did we ever see you hungry and feed you? Or thirsty and give you something to drink?’ And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth, when you did it to one of the least of these my brothers and sisters, you were doing it to me!’”

(Matthew 25.37&40, NLT)

So as we gather this Saturday for what will be a fun and uplifting day, know that your work and service will be making a major difference in the life of a person in need. Don’t you want to be a part of that? Sign up today. Come join us. Be ready to be a part of something life-saving and world-changing!

 

If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.

(Isaiah 58.10, MSG)