According to the latest estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, nearly 14 million children were facing hunger in the U.S. in 2023. Eighteen percent of households with children could not afford to buy enough food for families. Madisonville First United Methodist Church is working to make sure no children are hungry in their community.
Students in local schools were going home each weekend and did not have enough to eat. Madisonville recognized the need and felt God's call to create a new ministry to meet the needs that kids in the Madisonville area had. Backpack Blessings began in earnest to make sure no kids went hungry over the weekend. Every Friday, students who have signed up for the program receive their bag of food to take home over the weekend. Ten years later, the program serves 84 kids across two elementary schools and one middle school.
"We have found that we have been blessed through the Backpack Blessings program. It has strengthened our relationship with the local schools we partner with and allowed us to build a trusting partnership that has extended into an after-school program and other outreach into the schools," said Rev. Loletuth Kalz, Co-Lead Pastor at Madisonville First. "We know that we are directly impacting the quality of life of children and youth by providing food to food insecure homes and pray this has a lasting effect on the well-being of children in our community."
Backpack Blessings is just one way that Madisonville First is being the hands and feet of Jesus Christ. What a shining example of Christ's love for us!
If you would like to share ways your church is caring for kids in your community, I would love for you to reach out. You can connect with me at (859) 523-3001 or at johnmark.boes@kyumh.org.
Together, we can ensure that children and families can receive God's gift of wholeness of life.
