Wednesday, September 22, 2004

World Hunger

World Hunger is a big issue. But in my little corner of the world, we are making an effort, small though it may seem. I am excited about being the ELCA Synod World Hunger representative to my church, the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer. Today I called a local private grocery store and they are going to donate shopping bags, which each of us can fill and return to our local food pantry. I will label the bags with the items like powdered milk, canned corn, macaroni and cheese, hot cereal--which the food pantry told me they needed most. There are about 20 items they need right away, and we have 120 active people in our church. If the bags are there every Sunday and brought back full, perhaps we will be able to fill those empty shelves before Thanksgiving! I am excited. Maybe it doesn't take much to excite me, but the idea of a community coming together to fill a specific need makes me really happy. The man at the grocery store could not have been nicer to me. I will go tonight to pick up the bags. It feels like the right thing to do and a I hope that a good start to working on World Hunger is to work on Neighborhood Hunger. Blessed be!