As the Easter hymn says, “Love is come again.” Our Freestore Foodbank ministry, which lay dormant during the pandemic years, has risen to new life. On November 2, our ministry ambassador Jim Miller collected a group of 18 Church of the Redeemer folks and 3 guests (friends or relatives) to relaunch our outreach in the world to address food insecurity.
Our COR volunteers included Cecily (11), Matthew (9) and their mom Stephanie Parrish. She prepared them for the experience by explaining food insecurity, the public school lunch program, and the shortfall many kids their age experience at the weekends. Cecily and Matthew expressed that this made them feel guilty, an emotion their mom steered in a positive direction—toward thankfulness, humility, and helpfulness.
Helpfulness. That’s where Power Packs come in. Freestore Foodbank recruits volunteers to assemble packages of weekend food to be distributed to children through the Cincinnati Public Schools. In just a couple hours on that Saturday morning, Cecily, Matthew, Stephanie, and the rest assembled 1200 Power Packs!
Cecily reflected, “It meant a lot to me that I was able to help so many kids. It made me feel very good about myself and my life because so many people have been struggling, and it makes me feel good to help them. After going to the Freestore I wanted to help more and more. I really like talking to people while putting food into a bag for others. I’m so happy to get to do this.”
Matthew added, “It was actually really fun, and it makes you feel good because in the end you know you helped families in need. It made me feel really good and grateful that there’s places like this so other people can have food.”
As a next step, Jim Miller will be working with the FSFB team to identify a regular Saturday for COR members volunteer each month, starting Saturday, January 11. Stephanie reports, “The kids are ready and willing to go again as soon as we can!”
If you’d like to join the power pack team in 2025, please register with the FSFB and drop a line to Jim Miller to let him know you are ready to help!
Here is the registration link to so you can self-register as a member of the team with FSFB:
