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Crossroads, First Trinity, Internship Highlights, Joy

30 Hour Famine – Recap

February 19, 2011 Rebekah Freed

Hello All!

Well, we made it to the end! The 30-Hour Famine was a success (in my opinion at least). 22 youth and 4 adult participants from four area churches gave up eating for 30 hours so others could eat! I hope to tell more specifics in the days to come about our experience. But for now, here are some highlights:

Anne Miller and Jon Whited making our “Tribe:Haiti” experience come to life a little more by sharing stories from their trips to Haiti.
Celebrating Jon’s birthday on Friday night with a candle put straight on a plate (since we couldn’t eat anything) and then with the treats his parents brought for dessert when we broke our fast this evening.
Lots of laughter and games!
Going door-to-door collecting food, coats, and blankets for those in need. (Yes, in the wind and the snow).
Later in the day, a man showed up at church with 7 more blankets that he wanted to donate to our collection for people to keep warm this winter.
We left some of the food we collected to the First Trinity Food Pantry and then took nearly 70 extra pounds of food to the Food Bank of WNY where we toured their warehouse and learned more about those in need around our area.
The Canfield Family cooked us an awesome spaghetti supper to break our fast and helped clean everything up!

Thanks to everyone who helped out and especially a big thanks to all the youth participants who gave up their time, money, and food for 30 hours so others can have what they need. You’re AWESOME!

Crossroads, First Trinity

Hunger in WNY

February 17, 2011February 17, 2011 Rebekah Freed

According to the American Community Survey, Buffalo is the third poorest large city in America.

Across the state, 2.3 million residents rely on emergency food assistance each year. That breaks down to about 570,000 different people turning to emergency food programs for weekly help in the state of NY. (From “Hunger in America 2010. Feeding America.”) Hunger isn’t just something that impacts people in all those “other” countries around the world. People in America, people in our own neighborhoods, suffer from hunger everyday.

This weekend at the 30 Hour Famine, participants will have a chance to make an impact in our own community. Through one of the activities, students will collect non-perishable food items, water, and blankets/coats. With the items collected, we will restock what is needed in the First Trinity Food Pantry. Saturday afternoon the participants will be going to the Food Bank of Western New York. Here we will donate the rest of the food collected, get a tour and hear more about hunger in WNY. The Food Bank of Western New York works with around 400 member agencies in four counties to distribute food to those in need. These 400 agencies serve over 96,000 people, 39% of whom are children and 11% of whom are seniors. Any blankets or coats we collect will be given to area agencies to hand out to people who need some extra warmth this winter.

Please continue to pray for the 30 Hour Famine this weekend. I also invite you to get involved in this fight against hunger in WNY. Here are some ideas of how to help:

Bring non-perishable food to church (and give it to Bekah) between now and Saturday morning. What we don’t need at the First Trinity Food Pantry will be taken to the Food Bank of WNY.
Every time you go grocery shopping, by one extra non-perishable food item and donate it to a Food Pantry like the one we have at First Trinity.
Get connected by volunteering your time serving at places like the the Food Bank of WNY , Friends of Night People, or other food related agencies in the area. A group from First Trinity goes every other month to serve at Friends of Night people. Click here (and scroll down the page a little) to get connected with that group.

Crossroads, First Trinity

When You go to Bed Tonight…

February 16, 2011 Rebekah Freed

I just finished eating dinner. It was warm. It included aspects from various food groups. There were leftovers (which I’ll enjoy tomorrow for lunch too). I will go to bed content, in a warm bed.

Yet. every night, including tonight, more than a billion people will go to bed hungry. That’s 1 in 6 people on the planet.

Some people may say, “Well there’s nothing we can really do about it… there will always be hungry kids… people will continue dying from hunger. That’s just the way it is. ”

Well, those of us participating this weekend in the 30 Hour Famine say, they’re wrong and want to DO something to make a difference.

God’s Word tells us that he desires a world where “those who were hungry hunger no more” (1 Samuel 2:5). God also says that true worship is “to loose the chains of injustice,” “to set the oppressed free,” and “to share your food with the hungry” (Isaiah 58:6-7).

So that’s what we’re going to do this weekend. We’ll go without so others can eat, because it’s not OK to sit here while hunger kills another 8,000 kids today. It’s not OK to let apathy have the last word. Not when we can write a different story for the planet.

Please know that these posts are not to make you feel guilty, but rather we challenge you to get involved. Here are some ways to do just that:

Pray for those of us participating in the famine that we would be challenged to make a difference and have the energy and strength to go without so other may have.
Sponsor us this weekend financially. Every $30 we raise feeds and cares a kid for a month. That means for $360 a child will experience an entire year of not having to go to bed hungry.
Check out WorldVision.com to see other ways you can impact lives all over the world.

Come back here tomorrow to hear more information about people who are hungry here in WNY and what the students will be doing to make a difference.