...give us this day our daily bread...

 

 

 

 

Yesterday we traveled to a small town in Northern Minnesota to attend an art fair. My cousin was one of the exhibitors, so we stopped at his house first. When we arrived at his studio, we asked where his wife was. He replied she had a new job - she was managing the food shelf in town. Our discussion then moved to how important food shelves were. Not just in his town, but any town, no matter the size.

 

In Minnesota, March is Hunger Awareness Month. Food shelves look forward to this event as March is when food stocks are usually very low.  Even though most people that use food shelves are already using the SNAP Program (food stamps), the benefit is usually not enough. In fact the benefit depends on income, expenses and the number of people living under the same roof. The average monthly benefit amount per person in Minnesota is $118. If there are more people living in a household and sharing food, there will be more money to buy food. However, the the minimum monthly benefit is $16 - not very much.

 

My story about food ministry concerns a church located just north of the Twin Cities. At one time, that church, loaded with people who had a deep passion for feeding the needy, were able to really made a difference. It was a church that through this passion came up with a "cook book" on how to make an annual food drive succeed, and succeed in a big way.

 

The planning for the March event usually started right after Christmas. Partnerships with stores were cemented, expectations set, and iron clad coordination with the Anoka County Food Shelf was all but done. Signs were ordered and empty boxes were gathered from the stores. People would sign up for different teams every Sunday between services. This continued until all teams were filled with enough volunteers to complete the mission.

 

Immediately before the food drive started, store captains from the church would work with each of the partnered stores to establish items which would constitute $5 or $10 bags. The purpose was to allow each store enough time to place adequate orders for each item. A few days before the food drive began, bagging teams would work with the stores that needed help preparing the donation bags.

 

Once the food drive started, there were collection teams which consisted of 4 to 6 people that worked 2 hour shifts at each of the partnered stores. These people were the meeters, greeters and the inviters. All the teams involved in the event were important, but the collection teams were "the tip of the spear". If they failed, what the other teams did would not matter much. When people are invited, the amount of food donated went up many times over normal collection.

 

Next were the transportation teams. When the food drive really got rolling, so much food was being collected, it could get in the way of normal store operations. The transportation team would have drivers come to each store at scheduled times to gather donated food and bring it to the church. There were times that the collections were so heavy, transportation teams had to be augmented - and this was a great problem to have!

 

Once the food arrived at the church, the sorting teams took over. All bags were opened up and the contents sorted into groups and then put into large transportation boxes. There was always some items collected which were different than the normal items contained in the bags. There were rules from the food shelf on how all food items were to be sorted, packaged and delivered. Since the food drive took place on two consecutive weekends, the inside of the church began looking like a food shelf itself as mountains of food were everywhere.

 

Finally, the Monday after the second weekend was over, the delivery took place to the food shelf. For two years in a row the church set a record for a single day delivery. Our annual delivery was measured in tons and not pounds. As good as we felt about seeing this mountain of food in the food shelf once the delivery was finished, our bubble was burst when we found out it was only good for about 10 to 14 days of normal distribution. That is when many of us realized how critical this service was to Anoka County.

 

Sadly, this amazing annual collection from the church is no longer done as because of doctrinal differences, the church divided. Memories are there, unfortunately so is the need. In fact, the need today is much, much greater than it was just a few years ago. However, the "cook book" is still there. Hopefully another church or organization will pick up the ball, follow the "cook book", and run with it. Many, many in our county, our country, our world continue to pray "give us this day our daily bread...". And this is a prayer that we can help answer.