On October 8, 2016, Southbrook Church in Charlotte, NC held a Packathon and packed over 100,000 meals for poor children in Jamaica. It took 600 people about four hours to produce those meals.
From Charlotte, we brought the meals back to our headquarters, where they made up nearly 40% of the 276,480 meals (packed at other Packathons, large and small) that were needed to fill a 40-foot shipping container!
Just three days later, on October 11, FtH shipped those meals to the port of Kingston, Jamaica. They cleared customs five weeks later and were put on a truck headed inland. The meals were off-loaded by hand into our storage container in rural Jamaica, which acts as a distribution center for the 14 schools we serve across the island.
Just last week, 10 missionaries from Southbrook traveled to Jamaica to see their meals “in action.” We visited five schools with a total enrollment of about 500 children—most of whom were between the ages of three and five. We fed children, played games with them, sang songs with them, taught Bible stories, encouraged their cooks and teachers, and generally tried to reflect Jesus everywhere we went.
We met “Pinky,” a three-year-old whose father was gunned down while he was holding her. It was a senseless act of violence by people with a grudge against his brother.
We met a school principal, Mrs. Spence, who has been teaching for 37 years in hard conditions with very little pay—the equivalent of about $180 USD per month.
And we met Patricia, a school cook who works hard each day to prepare healthy and delicious meals for “her precious children.” Just seven or eight meal packets served with curried goat, chicken, or chicken feet provided enough food for the 40 children at her school that day.
But, as you know, with Feed the Hunger, “It’s More Than a Meal!” Those meals are a wonderful way to satisfy physical hunger, but the real nourishment comes from our partners teaching the Gospel of Christ in Jamaica and all over the world!
Thanks to Southbrook and all the other churches, businesses, college groups, and civic clubs producing meals for hungry children everywhere. And if you travel with us, you might get to experience the entire process for yourself, from rice and beans at your church to chicken feet on a child’s plate in Jamaica!
Jim Gurley | Director of Development