Grace-Point Fellowship’s S.H.A.R.E. Ministry Expresses Thanks Through Giving During It's Thanksgiving Food Distribution.
Grace-Point Fellowship Members and volunteers take time to capture the moment while serving the community.
Each month Grace-Point Fellowship’s S.H.A.R.E. Ministry seeks to address the food insecurity experienced in our community by partnering with St. Jude Catholic Church, here in Spotsylvania, Catholic Charites, and local community stakeholders to operate a monthly program that seeks to assist those who experience food insecurity in our community by providing food packages that include basic and healthy groceries. These packages always include four to six pounds of frozen proteins and 8 to 12 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables, sometimes with seasonal grocery or dessert items.
During this Holiday season, many individuals and families who were already impacted by food insecurity, are also, still contending with the economic impact of COVID-19.
As Thanksgiving approaches Grace-Point Fellowship also partnered with the staff of Salem Elementary School to help identify families in the community who we could serve.
Our goal was to provide 55 families with food packages and a turkey. We sought support from our local community merchants and the Lord blessed us with amazing partners in this effort to care for our neighbors, especially Wegmans and Giant Food.
Grace-Point would provide the groceries and asked the local grocery stores to partner with us by helping obtain the turkeys and additional sides and deserts for this cause.
We thank God for the response from this compassionate collaboration, which was awesome!
Mark Williams, of St. Jude, arranged for generous donations to pay for the transportation costs of the food packages.
Ms. Tara Schohn, the Principal of Salem Elementary School, where Grace-Point Fellowship meets for Sunday morning worship, and Laura Santos, the School’s Social Worker, helped identify families that would be served through this ministry.
Giant Food’s donation and store manager, Nancy Day’s guidance helped to provide the sides and desserts.
Wegmans’ generous donation of a $200 gift card helped offset the cost of purchasing the 55 turkeys needed for the event, and the creativity and logistics support of store managers Matt Spath, Diane Wright and their teams made the execution of the plan possible.
Lauren Santos, Salem Elementary Social Worker, joins Grace Point Fellowship members during the SHARE Thanksgiving event.
Grace-Point Fellowship members and volunteers, including Laura Santos, assembled at Salem Elementary School, on a bright and brisk Saturday morning and, using the school’s bus loop as a drive through distribution point, served every family as they drove up without them needing to leave their cars, including some who had not been previously identified!
Grateful recipients arrived and were able to remain in their cars to receive food packages and Turkeys. An estimated 250 individuals among 55 families were impacted by GPF's SHARE Ministry event.
The result?
An estimated 250 people were impacted by this compassionate, collaborative expression of God’s love! This event provided the opportunity for us to express our love for God by loving our neighbors.
As we pause to reflect upon the many way’s the LORD has blessed us, we have much to be thankful for.
We are thankful to God for caring businesses like Wegmans and Giant, who have earned a well-deserved reputation for community service by supporting local community oriented, faith-based organizations, like Grace-Point Fellowship, that are devoted to seeking opportunities where all may participate, serve, and lead with dignity.
We thank God for each, and every individual involved in making this ministry possible and for being a blessing to those in need.
Thank you for making yourself available to help us say “Thanks” to God by giving to others this Thanksgiving.
God Bless you and may the LORD’s favor rest upon you.
Love and Blessings,
Pastor Rip