Several churches in the Greensboro, North Carolina, area are working together this Easter to feed their hungry neighbors.
Volunteers working through nine United Methodist Churches in the Guilford West Missional Network are filling 1,000 boxes with food to make sure no one goes hungry on this sacred holiday. Each box will feed a family of five.
They call the event Feeding The 5000. This year’s outreach takes place on Good Friday at Muir’s Chapel Church in Greensboro.
Lynne Alexander, a member of Muir’s Chapel UMC, told WFMY-TV, “We know there’s a need out in the community, so we thought, how can we feed as many as possible. The Bible tells us to feed 5,000, so we took it to heart.”
Alexander said the story of Jesus using just two fish and five loaves of bread to feed 5,000 people means no one gets turned away and everyone eats.
Muir’s Chapel UMC member Scott Thornhill said feeding the hungry is a way to share God’s love. “Unfortunately, our area has a fairly high level of food insecurity. Nationally we are pretty high in terms of people not knowing where their next meal is coming from and that just creates a sense of sometimes hopelessness. So as a church and in our Christian faith, we are to be the hands and feet of Jesus Christ.”
Thornhill suggested starting the outreach in 2015 after seeing how a nearby congregation, Lawndale Baptist Church, was helping those in need. “They do theirs at Thanksgiving, but I thought it would be a great time to do this at Easter.”
For this year’s Feed the Hungry, volunteers pack the boxes with meat, green beans, rice, rolls and fruit.
The network of churches involved in the event are Hickory Grove UMC, Muir’s Chapel UMC, Guilford College UMC, Raleigh’s Crossroads UMC, Collins Grove UMC, Greensboro Korean, St. Timothy’s UMC, Zion Hill UMC and Morehead UMC.
