It’s Superbowl Sunday! Many of us will be feasting on tailgate foods and partying with friends, and most of us (in this area) will be rooting for the Eagles to win their second ever Superbowl!
But many of us won’t be able to surround ourselves with party food. Many of us struggle each day just to cobble enough food together to make something that we can call a meal.
In a recent letter, Bishop John Schol (the presiding bishop of our Conference), announced that we are accepting a challenge posed by the Methodists of Kansas City area (the Great Plains Conference). In addition to rooting for their Chiefs, they are busy collecting food for their local food banks. They have challenged us to a friendly contest to see if we can outdo their generosity by filling our own food banks. We’ll root for the Eagles in the evening, but we’ll donate food to the Pitman Pantry in the morning.
Here’s the letter from Bishop Schol (Note: “EPA” is the “Eastern Pennsylvania Conference of the United Methodist Church, and “GNJ” is our “Greater New Jersey Annual Conference”. We are members of GNJ, and Bishop Schol is presiding over both Conferences)…
Dear EPA&GNJ friends, sports fans and people who care about others,
We’ve been challenged. The United Methodists of Missouri and Kansas (Chiefs fans) have the audacity to challenge the good people of EPA&GNJ in conjunction with this Sunday’s Super Bowl. Apparently, they think their football team is better and that they can collect more food for area food banks than we can.
The football game will be settled on the field. But we can demonstrate our commitment to help feed those who need food. Time is short. We only have until Sunday at game time, 6:30 p.m., to collect as much food as we can.
Each congregation will determine how many pounds they raised and where they will donate the food. Scour your pantries, invite your neighbors to join in, and work with your local supermarket to collect as much food as possible. Some churches may already be participating in the annual Souper Bowl of Caring. You are welcome to add this to your congregation’s count.
If we collect more food, they will send your bishop some Kansas City barbeque. If they collect more food, I will be sending two pastors and a player to be named later ?. No actually, I will send some Tastykakes and Philly Cheesesteaks. We will keep you posted throughout the week about how we are doing.
Please forward this email to your congregation and neighbors. Let’s work together to raise food for our neighbors.
Use the following online form to report how much food you collected. If you are an EPA&GNJ clergy or lay person that lives outside the area you are welcome to collect food and give it through the congregation you attend or a food bank near you and report it through the form. Thank you!
The notice concluded with a link to a webpage for reporting each church’s collection totals.
At PUMC, we want to be part of “God’s Super Team” too (take a look at the Live Stream recording of this week’s sermon…). Pastor Jim has invited all of us as part of PUMC, congregation, Our Father’s House, Youth Group, other small groups, to participate in this challenge by bringing non-perishable foods to church this Sunday, February 12. Bring the food to the front of the church for all to see. For those who are worshipping online via Live Stream, please feel free to drop food items at the church before Sunday and they will be included. Let’s fill the church with nonperishable foods which will help feed the hungry in our area!
If you find yourself in need of help from the Pitman Pantry, don’t hesitate to drop by! The pantry is ready for anyone who needs help obtaining food.
Click this button for details: Pitman Pantry
+ + + + +
For more on how PUMC is involved in our community, click this button: Neighbors
