Wesley Memorial is Making a Difference by...
...supporting the Meals For Learning food packaging program
A number of years ago, Wesley Memorial began what has turned into a multiyear ministry in Kenya. During that time we have built a church, repaired and expanded other churches, purchased an existing clinic and built a clinic from scratch. Medical teams have gone to Kenya and treated many hundreds of people. At the clinic we built, our partner – the Maua Methodist Hospital – maintains a medical staff to care for the people in the area that cannot walk the 20+ miles to get to the hospital or who cannot afford the treatment once they get there. All of this started with a Lenten appeal through which we raised enough money to establish a feeding program at Saint Mark’s Methodist primary school.
Since we began feeding the first 50 or so children, the program has expanded so that we are now feeding over 700 children a lunch each day of the school year. These students attend St. Marks and 4 other schools for which the Methodist Church has oversight responsibility.
Whatever has caused the shortage the fact remains that food is in very short supply. Rev. Kanake tells us that if food was not available in the schools, children would not attend. Through a simple gift like buying a lunch for these children we can positively change their lives. They, like children everywhere, will need an education to compete in the world’s economy. Among the many reasons for an education it seems that educating a girl has tremendous benefits for society as a whole. An educated girl will bring home what she has learned about sanitation and nutrition and will pass along reading skills. Educated girls will what the same or better for their children. In addition, they are less susceptible to domestic violence and other oppressive situations. Educated boys will do the same and they will be more able to provide for their family. To cite a well used quote: “If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. But if you educate a girl, you educate a community”.
Next Event
On August 22 Wesley Memorial will host another Meals For Learning event and we invite you to become a part of it. We will gather at 9:30 am in the church dining room and work, have a great time and do a lot of talking and laughing for about two hours. At the end we will have packaged about 12,000 meals and you will have made a major difference in the lives of some very wonderful children in Kenya.
If you would like to join the group, please call Joe or Diana Lorber at 869-6715 or by email at jlorber@triad.rr.com . Last year this event filled up very quickly and we had a great time. You may also contact the Volunteer Center at the church 884-2204 extension 240 and they will be glad to take your name.
In addition to this program, Wesley Memorial recently responded to an urgent appeal from the local bishop in Maua. Over 150 people just “ran out of food” and turned to the church for relief. $1,000 was reallocated from the missions budget and was sent to the Bishop so that he could purchase food. As you are reading this on Thursday, the food distribution is being made today. When you read Matthews’s gospel in chapter 25 verses 25-45 you will remember that the people asked Christ “when did we see you hungry?... etc.” The response was that “whenever you have done it for the people who are forgotten, overlooked, marginalized (the least of these my brothers) you have done it to Me. We attempt to use the church funds to be faithful to Christ’s direction for us and this was a great way to put our thoughts and wishes into action.
This was actually the second purchase of food in the area. Christ UMC in Greensboro made a similar donation and at the end of the day, the leadership had to tell a number of women who gathered to get food for their families that the supply had been exhausted.
On August 22 Wesley Memorial will host another Meals For Learning event and we invite you to become a part of it. We will gather at 9:30 am in the church dining room and work, have a great time and do a lot of talking and laughing for about two hours. At the end we will have packaged about 12,000 meals and you will have made a major difference in the lives of some very wonderful children in Kenya.
If you would like to join the group, please call Joe or Diana Lorber at 869-6715 or by email at jlorber@triad.rr.com . Last year this event filled up very quickly and we had a great time. You may also contact the Volunteer Center at the church 884-2204 extension 240 and they will be glad to take your name.
In addition to this program, Wesley Memorial recently responded to an urgent appeal from the local bishop in Maua. Over 150 people just “ran out of food” and turned to the church for relief. $1,000 was reallocated from the missions budget and was sent to the Bishop so that he could purchase food. As you are reading this on Thursday, the food distribution is being made today. When you read Matthews’s gospel in chapter 25 verses 25-45 you will remember that the people asked Christ “when did we see you hungry?... etc.” The response was that “whenever you have done it for the people who are forgotten, overlooked, marginalized (the least of these my brothers) you have done it to Me. We attempt to use the church funds to be faithful to Christ’s direction for us and this was a great way to put our thoughts and wishes into action.
This was actually the second purchase of food in the area. Christ UMC in Greensboro made a similar donation and at the end of the day, the leadership had to tell a number of women who gathered to get food for their families that the supply had been exhausted.
The accounting process is important and getting more critical due to the food shortages being faced in the area. The local and world economies have raised havoc with the price and supply of food. In addition, the area is now undergoing a draught and crops are drying up in the fields. Older people tell us that they have never seen it so dry in their lifetimes.
The major way that this program is able to exist is through an innovative ministry called Meals For Learning. In a nutshell, Wesley Memorial and other churches agree to host a “Meals Packaging Event” at which they purchase the ingredients and supply at least 65 volunteers for approximately 2 hours. During the event, 5 people work at a packaging station with 4 people adding one measure each of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables and a special vitamin powder into a bag held by the 5th person.
From that station the bags are sealed which will give the mixture a shelf life of 3-5 years. The bags are checked by an inspector and then sent to the boxing area. Within the 2 hour period, the volunteers will package approximately 12,000 meals. The meals are then sent to the warehouse where they are added to others to make a shipment of 144,000 meals. The container then leaves High Point headed for the port of Mombasa in Kenya where it is trucked to Maua and stored in the warehouse on the Ndoleli Methodist Demonstration Farm. From the secure storage there the disbursement of the meals is done under the watchful eyes of the local pastor, Rev. John Kinoti and our friend Rev. Misheck Kanake. All meals are accounted for.