What do you do with 400 gallons of milk, 4,800 eggs, 2,000+ pounds of potatoes, 2,000 cups of shredded cheese, 1,200 pounds of ham and a ridiculous amount of vegetables? Well, you could start a small grocery store. You could go for the Guinness Book record and make the world’s largest omelet with a nice side of home fries. We decided to give it all away.
In 2020, many people were faced with challenges that no one saw coming. No one imagined there would be a global pandemic that would cause us all to quarantine and incorporate masks into daily attire. No one envisioned the reinvigoration of the civil rights movement amidst widespread, open racism. What took most people by surprise? The face of hunger changed.
Before COVID-19, the face of the hungry was easy to spot perhaps by the way people dressed or how people carried everything they had on them. COVID changed that. Instead of seeing “the normal” face of hunger, the world began to see next door neighbors, cousins, aunts, uncles, and friends who they’d never thought they would see in need of food. As a community church, Faith Outreach always gives back to the community through our church food bank and in our direct support to Augusta’s largest homeless ministry, The Bridge. The new face of hunger incited us to do more!
On December 8, 2020, we partnered with Golden Harvest Food Bank to combat hunger in our areas. Dozens of community volunteers sorted, organized, and provided an assortment of food to literally over 430 families. Many of the volunteers will tell you how much they love to serve the community and how the church isn’t within the four walls. But there’s a secret to serving the community. As a volunteer, it is pure joy to see how God uses any willing vessel to take care of His sheep. When a volunteer serves others, it’s the volunteer himself that’s truly being blessed. Blessed by the relief in people’s eyes; blessed to be in a position to give; blessed to be a part of what God is doing.
So, what would you do with all that food? Let God use you to make a difference. Join us next time we host a food drive. I’m sure you’ll be as equally blessed volunteering as the people who receive the blessing.
