Smart Lunch, Smart Kid: Blessings and Promises of Hope Disguised as a Simple Sack Lunch

11/14/2014

Nov. 10-16 is Guest Blogger Week at ngumc.org. The Conference has invited leaders of Action Ministries to write about hunger issues and how NGUMC churches can and are making a difference! They'll be posting all week and you are invited to share the messages with your own church and community. Follow along on social media by using #‎ngumcHungerAction.

Smart Lunch, Smart Kid: Blessings and Promises of Hope Disguised as a Simple Sack Lunch

By Mark Hellman
Guest Blogger

As the dust begins to settle after this blessed summer, and we all have a chance to catch our breath…all we can say is God is good! And oh boy, is God ever good! With the support of your congregation, Action Ministries Smart Lunch, Smart Kid summer feeding program served a daily helping of love and hope more than 219,000 times to approximately 25,000 individual children! Amazing!

You and our other wonderful volunteers met daily throughout the summer in church kitchens, fellowship halls, homes and places of business to pack, pray over and deliver these blessings and promises of hope disguised as a simple sack lunch. Many of you ventured into some of the most poverty-stricken neighborhoods in your area. You visited with families living in extended-stay hotels. You read with children who thought they had been forgotten. You played games with kids who know all too well what it is like to be lonely and afraid. But most of all, you embodied God’s Holy word by becoming His hands and heart here on Earth.

While we are excited about all that was accomplished this past summer, the Regional Hunger Relief team is already making plans for the summer of 2015. What new areas will we move into? How can we reach more families? Can we make programmatic improvements in areas such as enrichment or distribution? Are there new corporate partners we might be able to engage?

We need your help answering these questions and more. We ask you to continue to be our advocate in your community and to help lay the groundwork for another successful summer. There are two very specific ways that your congregation can help in our planning process. We would be most appreciative if you can share with us the steps for getting in both your church’s 2015 financial and volunteer budget.

Now is the time to take action, and we want to make sure we are working efficiently with your congregation. Our staff is always available to come and speak to Sunday school classes, mission committees, or the church as a whole.

We are thankful that God has allowed us to serve alongside you, and we look forward to growing this fruitful relationship. We look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

Peace,

Mark Hellman
mhellman@actionministries.net
Executive Director of Regional Hunger Relief Programs
Action Ministries, Inc.