Flocked! BLAST is Challenged!
On Sunday March 15, the Youth Group of the Trinity UMC in Clayton challenged our BLAST Youth Group to raise 400 lbs of food for our local Food Pantry. The 400 lbs was to be raised within 4 months and donated to the Pitman Food Pantry (Click Here for more information on “The challenge”).
On Sunday April 26, members of our Youth Group announced that we had raised over 800 lbs of food (and by the end of the day that number had risen to over 1000). Since three more months remain in this challenge, our Youth have decided to raise the bar; Our goal is now to collect ONE TON of food (2000 lbs) by the middle of June! Thanks to the generosity of PUMC members and of the many others who visit our church for Our Father’s House and many other activities, the Pitman Food Pantry will be blessed with an influx of supplies just in time for the summer (when donations typically decrease).
BLAST sent Trinity UMC’s G5 youth group this Slideshow as an “official” response to the challenge.
Hunger! Pitman Families are Challenged Every Day!
We are an affluent society. When we think of hunger, our minds conjure up images of kids in Africa. Hunger? “Doesn’t happen in America!” But it does; in fact, it happens right here in our own town of Pitman!
Many people are living on the financial edge. One unexpected bill, one illness, one car repair can send a hard working family into a tailspin. It can force difficult choices between home, job, medication… and food.
Jesus calls us to feed the hungry just as if it were Jesus Himself in need of help (Matthew 25:35-39)…
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.’ NIV
And so this is more than a game with YouTube challenges and pink Flamingos. This is about answering Jesus’ call to feed real people in our community who are encountering real needs.
Each week, about 65 families visit the food pantry for bags of food. In the month of March 2015, the pantry fed a total of 230 families; 745 people were nourished because people around town heeded Christ’s call to feed the hungry. Most of these folks are elderly and living on fixed incomes; others have jobs but don’t make enough to make ends meet. Yes- “Even in Pitman,” we have working poor and people struggling on the edges.
Each family receives 2 bags of groceries, plus a “cold bag” which usually contains frozen meat, (chicken) and sometimes frozen blueberries and cheese. They also receive bread; and sometimes personal care items, (shampoo, toothpaste) and paper products are available. The pantry isn’t a handout for people who don’t want to work. It’s a hand up for people hit with serious challenges.
So what will the Pantry do with One Ton of Food?!?
One ton. 2000 pounds! It sounds like a lot of food. What will happen to it? How long will it last? All of the food received by BLAST has been given to the pantry as it comes in. The 1000 lbs already donated has been used to fill the 130 bags of groceries that are needed each week. Everything donated so far has already been given out. So, food from this challenge has been used to fill hungry families, not to stock empty shelves. The food comes in and it goes right back out again!
This challenge and food collection has come at the right time as we enter the summer season. During the summer, donations traditionally decrease, but the needs increase as kids are home from school and loose the benefit of school lunch programs.
How Can I Help?
The pantry needs items such as cereal and jelly. The needs vary, but as of this writing they are out of soup. The pantry will take any donations; they can always find a use for anything. If, by some miracle they’ve got too much of something with a short shelf life, like bread, they will share it with another pantry. Nothing goes to waste.
To donate food to the pantry (and to build up towards our 2000 pound goal), place your items either in the in the shopping cart that’s in the Fellowship Hall or in the basket located in the Narthex . Donate whenever you can; your help is much appreciated (not only by the youth, but by the people of our town who depend on our help to get through a difficult stretch).
On July 12, Pastor Jim announced that BLAST had met (actually exceeded) the One Tone Goal!
For more information about our BLAST youth group, Click Here
