Feeding 200 Families One Afternoon in March

It was just a yellow moving truck.

How many times on a Saturday afternoon have we seen them? We have seen them in our neighborhoods, on major roads and highways. We may have even used them ourselves to get our possessions from one place to another. This Saturday afternoon was no different.

Or was it?

For me, on this particular Saturday, it wasn’t. I was actually following a yellow moving truck that had just left a church parking lot where over two dozen volunteers had helped organize, pack, and load 200 boxes with food that would feed families in the area of Annapolis, Maryland for one week. But this was no ordinary week. It was Spring Break. And for these families, no school means little or no meals for their children. Talk about priceless cargo! This truck had it.

So there I was, following this box truck to our next destination at a local school. We would meet up with some of the same volunteers and meet new ones in order to get our routes to deliver the food. It wasn’t a long drive to the school but long enough to reflect on what the volunteers were getting ready to do.

As for myself, I had my children with me and had been answering the age old questions of “why?” and “are we there yet?” during the twenty minute drive. At some point, they had become satisfied and settled into their own conversations. This is when I took advantage of the “quiet” time and started to think over the answers I had given them. Then it hit me.

Beautiful day. Moving truck. Traffic.

I was in traffic behind what others were seeing as just another truck. I thought to myself, “Nobody knows. Nobody.” Not one person we crossed or traveled alongside knew what cargo it carried. To them it was just another Saturday and nobody noticed anything different about this truck. Then my heart heard the words,

“Take care of the poor. Feed the hungry.”

I started to sob. My silent tears burned against my face. Sometimes I don’t see it either. Sometimes I overlook the obvious. Sometimes it’s too easy to look away.

I call myself a Christian who lives my life as best as I can. Serving in my church, loving on people, forming relationships, but somehow I get it wrong. How can I get it so wrong sometimes? Maybe I get discouraged by what’s on the news and feel I have no impact in this world but this is what Christ said:

“I was hungry and you fed me.” (Mt 25:34-36 MSG)

He’s not asking us to solve world hunger, but feed the hungry. We were in the process of doing just as He asked and I became overwhelmed with emotion at the thought of the hungry in our area.

We live in one of the most important cities in the world and we have people, families, and children in our own neighborhoods that are hungry. No, maybe they are not the starving of Africa but can you imagine having your child look at you, tell you they’re hungry and you have to respond, “We have to wait until I get paid tomorrow.”

Tomorrow?

Isn’t that what some of us always say? Tomorrow. Tomorrow I’ll do this. Tomorrow I’ll do that. But what about today?

 

Let me tell you about today.

• Today, volunteers packed enough food to feed 800 people for a week.
• Today, volunteers drove all over some of the poorest and roughest areas of Annapolis trusting in God’s protection to make the deliveries.
• Today, volunteers walked into a home with no furniture.
• Today, a mother cried when she was offered an additional box of food.
• Today, children jumped up and down when they saw the food.
• Today, seeing my children’s inquisitive and willing hearts reminded me that anyone can make an impact.
• Today, families knew Jesus was moving in their community and He cares about them.
• Today, God blessed me, this volunteer, with humility and thankfulness and a deeper love for His people.

Take a chance on today. I did and it gave me a whole new meaning to beautiful Saturday afternoons. So maybe the next time you are thinking you cannot possibly make an important impact, remember this day. Hunger matters. People matter. Relationships matter and so do yellow moving trucks.

Maybe next time, you’ll be the one moved.



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Feeding 100 Families Again!
Revolution has partnered with the county schools to provide food to families in need. This time we've promised 100 Annapolis families that we will provide them with a weeks worth of food, which translates to feeding 400 people for a week!


How you can get involved:

Get Involved in the Packing and Delivery - On Saturday, June 26th we will meet at 8:30am at New Song Bible Fellowship (11911 Lanham Severn Road Bowie, MD 20720-4551) to pack and sort the food into boxes. We'll load the truck with the boxes and head back to Annapolis.

For Delivery- We will arrive at a local area school (TBD) and will divide the boxes and put them into cars for delivery. We estimate our arrival on location with the box truck to be around 12pm.

Donate to the Cause - For $35 you can feed a family of 4 for an entire week, for $105 you could feed 12 people for a week.

You can make checks payable to: The Orchard Group with Feed 200 in the memo and send them to 626C Admiral Dr. #224 Annapolis, MD 21410. We will forward these on to the Orchard Group (our sponsoring organization) and send you a receipt. All gifts are tax deductible.

To get plugged in send Josh an email and he will send you updates at josh@revolutionannapolis.com or call 703-304-8326.

Hope to see you there!