Submitted by Kerry Devendorf

 

The Genesis Food Pantry is a ministry that is growing dramatically.  With all the ministries the church is starting, we hope and pray the Genesis Pantry continues to grow and reach more people in the community.  The GP is not growing because we are advertising or even highlighting it in the church newsletter or bulletin.  It’s growing because it is needed.  Its growth is in proportion to the state of the economy.  Usually it would be rewarding to see a ministry grow, but it’s a constant reminder of how our own dollar doesn’t go as far as it did last year, and all the things our families have had to cut back on.

 

Basic needs are food and shelter.  How preoccupied would you be if you struggled to meet one or both of these needs?  From being a regular volunteer at the Pantry, I can tell you no one is proud to come in and there are a lot of “God bless you” at their departures.

 

If the pantry does not grow monetarily with its demands, it will fail and cease to exist.  So many emergency shelters and pantries are not growing with the demand.  It must be so discouraging to be turned away at your last resort.  Don’t let this happen to the Genesis Pantry.  Just one dollar a week from each member of the congregation will keep us going.  Bake sales, hand-man-for-a-day, and thing we can do to generate funds will help to feed hungry people!

 

If, for lack of funds, our only option is to cut back and not continue forward and grow, we will have failed those who Jesus told us to care for — the poor, the hungry….  The demand is too great for this ministry not to give it all we have.  If we can put food in the mouths of twenty families a week, al lot of them with children, we have succeeded.  I believe we owe it to them, those of us with food and shelter, to give to our sisters and brothers in Christ.