City Pointe Church lead pastor Scott McIntosh and his wife Elizabeth, its missions director, were looking for practical ways to make a difference in their community.
They decided to feed the hungry, much like Jesus did when he fed the 5,000 near the Sea of Galilee but McIntosh and his team didn’t work a miracle with a few loaves of bread and a couple fishes.
Instead, they partnered with the United Food Bank of Plant City, Meals of Hope and Plant City High School’s J.R.O.T.C. to package 35,934 meals on October 16 for the food bank’s local programming initiatives.
Each meal consisted of a shelf-stable meal of fortified pasta with soy protein and a packet of tomato sauce that could easily be heated up in a pot with water or broth.
“The packets are very similar to MRE’s,” said United Food Bank of Plant City executive director Mary Heysek.
More than 150 volunteers packaged the meals in assembly line fashion in less than five hours.
The food bank feeds approximately 11,000 people every month through its mainstream food distribution programs such as Feeding Our Future (that makes sure children have access to a free nutritious meal), Feeding Our Legacy (that provides meals to seniors), the College Hunger Program and a mobile food pantry.
Heysek, who is thankful for staff member Jasmine Perez who coordinated the logistics of the event, hopes to make this an annual project.
McIntosh was pleased with the success of the project.
“It’s not okay with us that people are going hungry,” said McIntosh. “We just wanted to do our part to make a difference and we’re honored to play a small part in being the hands and feet of Jesus to our city.”