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Also, donate here if you would like to help us package more than 50,000 meals. For only 25 cents per meal, you can help us provide more than 50,000 meals to your neighbors right here in Kansas City.
A very special thanks to our sponsors for making this event possible:
   If you are a business and would like to sponsor this event,
please contact Sara Kline at [email protected].
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In Matthew 25, Jesus shares a parable in which he says, "I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me." The righteous ask, "Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?..." And the King replied, "Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."
This teaching of Jesus fires my imagination and provokes a response. What are we doing in this to literally minister to Jesus himself by serving others? Desiring to shape young people formationally as disciples of Jesus in the context of this teaching we started Something to Eat™ several years ago. By the end of this year young people will have raised money and packaged well over two million meals for those lacking proper nutrition in Haiti, Africa, Central America, the Philippines, and also throughout the USA where millions of people are dealing with food insecurity everyday.
We have developed amazing collaborative partners such as FH and Generation Alive. We've had incredible support from foundations, donors and others who believe that it's not only part of God's mission to "give them something to eat" but who are also passionate about discipling a generation of young people to follow obediently in the way of Jesus.
This weekend, I'm working with my dear friend Jeremy Affeldt, who has provided deep vision and passion for Something to Eat™ , to package 250,000 meals. The cool thing is that the teenagers packaging the meals are from East Palo Alto. Most people know Palo Alto as the home of Google, Facebook, the Silicon Valley, the wealthy land of the innovator and Venture Capitalist. On the other side of the highway is East Palo Alto, a place that many people have written off. But that is not the story that these young people are embracing. Through the opportunities provided by organizations like Able Works, these young people are leaning into a different story, a story that mirrors the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 25. Pray for us this weekend.
Pray for young people who want to not only give something to eat to those who are hungry but also want to stand up for the stranger and push for immigration reform; shine a light on the naked and end the scourge of sex trafficking; and cooperate with God's mission in the world in hundreds of other ways that bare witness to the reality that a day is coming when restoration will be completed and God will get God's way on Earth as in Heaven. This is a generation of young people that according to some of the latest research by Barna are more faithful than any other age group to speak up for Jesus and the Gospel.
In Matthew 25, Jesus was not giving an exhaustive list of the things we should be about in order to come alongside the "least of these." What are ways that you can minister to Jesus directly by serving the least of these? Listen deeply and allow God's Spirit and your imagination to open up the possibilities all around you.
Several days ago, I got an Advent Daily Dig featuring a quote that I can't quit thinking of. I've read it to a few people and asked them to guess who said this. Most people think of Pope Francis, which makes sense because he has us talking about the kind of issues that this quote addresses. We are talking about it because through his behavior he is pushing the conversation captured by the following quote to the forefront. The Pope has been called a Marxist. Jesus was called names also, it goes with the territory. So now, for the quote.
"Let everyone examine himself in the light of the Gospel and see hoLew far he is from Christ, and what is the character of his faith and love. There are many who are enkindled with dreamy devotion, and when they hear of the poverty of Christ, they are almost angry with the citizens of Bethlehem. They denounce their blindness and ingratitude, and think, if they had been there, they would have shown the Lord and his mother a more kindly service, and would not have permitted them to be treated so miserably. But they do not look by their side to see how many of their fellow humans need their help, and which they ignore in their misery. Who is there upon earth that has no poor, miserable, sick, erring ones around him? Why does he not exercise his love to those? Why does he not do to them as Christ has done to him?" Who said this? (The answer below)
Martin Luther, the Father of the Protestant Reformation
This is a letter we recieved from the National Coordinator for Food for the Hungry in Dominican Republic who responded to the latest crises in Haiti with food from Youthfront's Something to Eat Initiative.
This is one of the many leader moms we trained on how to
combine foods for better nutrition. The Youthfront food packs were used
to do the demo and then given out to share with the poorest families
trained through cascade. We will send a report next week.
Thanks for your support!
Shalom,
Martha
Contact: Eileen O'Gorman FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Phone: (o) 480-609-7759 Email: [email protected]
Food for the Hungry Fights Growing Hunger Crisis in Haiti
Food distributions and income generation projects meet acute needs
PHOENIX (July 1, 2013) – Approximately 1.5 million Haitians currently face severe food insecurity due to drought and crop failure, according to the United Nations. Food for the Hungry (FH) is responding to this crisis though emergency food aid and income generation projects, based on goat and rabbit breeding.
In partnership with Something to Eat, FH has distributed high-protein, vitamin-fortified meals to malnourished children and children under age 2. FH health and nutrition staff identify the most vulnerable children for food distributions. The program is taking place in Belledere and nearby communities on the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
Additionally FH has provided goats and rabbits for families to breed. Families receive animals with training on animal husbandry and marketing. As animals breed, owners sell the offspring and gain income to buy food in local markets. This supplementary income is essential for surviving the food crisis.
“Food is available for purchase locally,” said Dave Evans, FH’s U.S. President. “But escalating prices for food staples are out of reach for the vast majority of poor farming families. These households are now faced with the double burden of poor harvests from their farms and the rising cost of food in the marketplace. It’s a very serious situation.”
Emergency food is distributed by FH in partnership with Something to Eat, an organization that recruits U.S. church youth groups and other groups to pack emergency food packets for shipment to food insecure countries. The food distributed to date was pre-positioned in the region in case of a crisis in Haiti or the Dominican Republic.
“An amazing part of this story is that the food was packaged by teenagers, impassioned by hunger issues, who personally raised the money to make it happen,” said Mike King, President/CEO of Youthfront, who organizes Something to Eat.
San Francisco Giants pitcher Jeremy Affeldt and author of To Stir a Movement, who has organized Something to Eat packing events, commented on the relief activity saying, “This is exactly the kind of need we want to meet. Our goal is to get healthy food into the hands of the most vulnerable in the face of crisis. Now the challenge is to see this through till the crisis is over.”
FH plans to do more food and animal distributions this month. Staff are monitoring the situation closely and coordinating efforts with the Haitian government and the United Nations. The focus of FH’s development work in Haiti includes child survival, education, sustainable farming, disaster risk reduction and church strengthening.
### Founded in 1971, Food for the Hungry provides emergency relief and long-term development programs with operations in more than 20 countries to help the world's most vulnerable people. Learn more by visiting www.fh.org. Social connections include www.facebook.com/foodforthehungry and www.twitter.com/food4thehungry.
Affeldt, pitcher for the San Francisco Giants, tells of the ups and downs of his life and major league career beginning with his childhood spent in a military family, the impact his parents had on his life, and his tumultuous high school years. Affeldt admits that he was often an uncaring, self-centered athlete who was difficult for his parents and teachers. So much so, that his dad kicked him out of the home on more than one occasion. Although he attended a Christian school, Jeremy wasn’t buying any of it until a series of events led him to see his need for Christ.
After being kicked out of games and sitting the bench because of his behaviors and his attitude, one of his coaches gave him books on attitude and anger control as well as scriptures that Jeremy read mainly so he wouldn’t have to watch the games from the stands. As the Bible began to come alive for him, he was also influenced by God’s transforming work in the life of another student who had been Jeremy’s archenemy. That was the beginning of Jeremy’s close walk with Christ.
Jeremy Affeldt tells of his opportunities in baseball, his marriage to his high school sweetheart and, of course, his success including two World Series Championships – after many setbacks and injuries – in the major leagues.
The book includes Jeremy Affedlt’s passion for social justice and his humanitarian endeavors as he continues to use his time and finances to do God’s work throughout the world. Available now, discover the side of Jeremy that thrives off the field; the side that is passionate about freeing the slave, feeding the hungry, giving water to the thirsty and seeking justice for the oppressed.
Recently, Youthfront partnered with Generation Alive and Able Works to mobilize 450 high school students in East Palo Alto to package 100,000 meals for our Something to Eat™ initiative. East Palo Alto is divided from Palo Alto by a freeway. Palo Alto is a very wealthy area fueled by the success of the Silicon Valley. Apple, Google and Facebook are some of the corporate success connected to Palo Alto. East Palo Alto lies in stark contrast to Palo Alto. About 65% of the residents of East Palo Alto are Hispanic/Latino, 16% are African-American, and 10% Pacific Islander/Asian. Several years ago, Michelle Pfeiffer starred in the movie Dangerous Minds as a teacher, teaching a classroom of East Palo Alto high school students whose lives were being destroyed by drugs, gang involvement, illicit sex, crime, etc. For a young person, living in East Palo Alto can still be a dangerous reality. In the few months before our Something to Eat™ event several young people were killed through drug and gang violence. The names Something to Eat™ and Something to Drink™ come from Matthew 25 when Jesus led us to imagine that when someone is hungry or thirsty and we give them food or water it is the same as giving food and drink to Jesus.
More than 450 young people from this under-resourced community moved outside of the dominating and destructive script many of them feel trapped in and instead worked to raise money to provide food for those around the world who are suffering from starvation. Most of these young people have grown up with a script that imprisons them into thinking that they are stuck forever in a story that centers around poverty, drugs, gangs, crime and violence. I wish you could have been an eyewitness to what happened in this Something to EatTM event. We worked hard all day and yet, these teenagers didn’t even want to take a break. We stopped for short five minute breaks throughout the event to talk and reflect on why we were doing what we were doing – information about the world hunger crises, about the importance of taking care of each other along with inspirational thoughts. We had local artists perform Street Poetry that was uplifting and spiritually rich. It was amazing to see what was unfolding.
The East Palo Alto Police Captain spent the day with us. He was so enthused that he was on the phone talking to the news media reminding them that they were all at the recent murder scene involving young people and they needed to come and see the good things young people were doing. I got into a conversation with the Police Captain, an East Palo Alto School Board member and a former mayor of the city. We talked about how important it was to provide the opportunity for these young people to participate in an alternative script to the broken scripts that they had grown up with and ensnared by. We agreed that these young peoples’ imaginations were being unleashed and this has the potential to alter their life scripts forever. It was also cool to learn that the Police Captain grew up in Kansas City and had served our country for many years as a presidential appointed U.S. Marshall
Albert Einstein declared, “Imagination is more important than
knowledge. For while knowledge defines all we currently know and
understand, imagination points to all we might yet discover and create.”
I believe Youthfront’s mission to bring youth into a growing
relationship with Jesus Christ happens because we embrace the most
powerful script of all – the Gospel. The Gospel unveils a story that unleashes the imagination of those who have
ears to hear. The Gospel story has the power to render other scripts
impotent. Think of Jesus’ own disciples. They fled in fear when he was
arrested. They witnessed his crucifixion. They were hiding in a state of
dreadful trepidation. And when a few of Jesus’ followers, mostly women,
went to his tomb the Gospel story breaks forth with the declaration “He
is not here, he has risen!” Still the disciples hid in disarray and confusion. Although a few were convinced
that Jesus Christ was resurrected, some, Thomas for instance still
didn’t have the imagination to believe that the Gospel proclamation that
Jesus was risen could be true. And then he saw Jesus. Thomas declared,
“My Lord and my God!” I believe the Christian story properly told
stirs the imagination of the listener.
A Pilgrimage to Haiti by Moree Scofield
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness… Broad, wholesome, charitable views of people and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime. – Mark Twain
A pilgrimage is a sacred journey of deliberate travel; as a quest, or for a purpose. Experience will tell you that they are life-changing; one rarely returns the same. It is with this in mind, that Youthfront extends an invitation to all who are seeking broad, wholesome, charitable views that expand our imagination of God’s work to join us on pilgrimage to Haiti this July.
This pilgrimage will guide us away from our homes and our expectations. As we spend a few days traveling together, we will connect and engage with locals of Haiti and we will learn from them. Our time will be devoted to the present – to those we meet, to that which we see, to God.
We will see fruits of labor and sacrifice as we visit people who have been touched by Youthfront’s Something to Eat™ and Something to Drink™ initiatives. We will visit communities who have received meals packaged by youth right here in KC and we will visit new wells that have been tapped bringing forth water and life. Our fellowship with Haitian Christians and orphans, albeit momentary, will somehow leave its imprint on us forever. Our times of solitude with God in this land may give us peace, yet perhaps it might disturb us. Nevertheless, on our return home, we will be different. We will discover that we have a pilgrims tale to tell not for novelty, but to be transformed into passionate advocates for God’s action for the poor and vulnerable both here and abroad.
Some things you should know…
This is not a mission trip. This trip is open to participants 16 years and older, adults and parents are welcome. Youth 14-15 may participate, however they must have a parent or legal guardian accompany them on the trip.
Estimated Trip Cost: $1,900/person (includes airfare, lodging and meals) An additional $50-$100 is suggested for snacks and meals as we travel to and from Haiti.
All trip participants must be registered and submit the initial deposit by April 15, 2013. Please note *late registrations may require more fees as flight pricing may increase closer to the departure date. To register and submit your initial deposit go here.
This trip is open to 15 travelers so please contact us before April 1st to share your interest and register. All trip participants must have a current passport.
If you are interested in joining Youthfront in July on pilgrimage to Haiti please contact Morée Scofield, the director of Something to Drink™ at [email protected]| Sun | Mon | Tue | Wed | Thu | Fri | Sat |
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Chris Folmsbee: Story, Signs, and Sacred Rhythms: A Narrative Approach to Youth Ministry
Philip Sheldrake: Spaces for the Sacred: Place, Memory, and Identity
N. T. Wright: Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church
Mike King: Presence-centered Youth Ministry: Guiding Students into Spiritual Formation
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