For the second year in a row, Trinity Christian Reformed Church of Rock Valley, Iowa, bought and packaged meals for the Feed My Starving Children organization.
Brenda Beernink and other members of the church’s outreach team had seen photos of starving children in magazines and television commercials, but they wanted their effort to be an outreach to their own community.
So members of the outreach team fanned out, inviting churches, schools, community clubs, and nearby Western Christian High School to participate.
Collection jugs were distributed throughout the small town. Rock Valley Christian School’s eighth graders grew $200 of “seed money” into $5,500 for the project.
Together, the groups raised enough money to provide 125,000 meal packets, which consist of a mixture of rice, soy, vegetables, and a vitamin and mineral vegetarian chicken flavoring mix. A single bag provides one meal for six children for one dollar.
Volunteers did the packaging over a period of three days. “People throughout the community came,” said Rev. Mark Beernink, Trinity’s church life pastor. “If I walked in there on a given afternoon when they were packaging, I probably didn’t know fifty percent of the people,” he said. “It was an intergenerational ministry; it said we’re kind of all in this together,” said Beernink.
“It’s such an easy way to do hands-on,” said Brenda Beernink. “When everyone chips in it is amazing what you can do,” she said.
