‘Choose love, be the light and change the world’: Church food drive stresses MLK message

In the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr. National Day of Service, volunteers operated a drive-up collection of food and household goods Monday at the First Presbyterian Church of Arlington Heights.

A dozen people gathered to sort donations benefiting the Wheeling Township food pantry.

It’s the sixth year for the 850-member church’s annual drive. The children’s and youth ministries hosted this year’s event. Items also were collected Sunday before and after worship services. Paper towels, toilet paper, dish soap, cereal, cooking oil, spices, coffee, sugar and flour were on the needed list.

Rebekah Anderson, associate pastor for children, youth and families, said it’s a meaningful event and one of the students’ favorite things to do.

“I think our church really cares about feeding the hungry, caring for the broken,” Anderson said. “We try to bring healing and wholeness to the community spiritually, but also in a sense of (in) what ways can we actually meet real needs in our community.”

Anderson said she and others were talking about how faith was central in King’s life and how he greatly met the needs of the broken. She said it aligns with a major pillar of who they are as a church.

“We really want to live out what it means to choose love, be the light and change the world,” Anderson said. “We do that by seeing who Martin Luther King Jr. was, and trying to see who in our world needs us, how can we meet the needs of what’s going on in our own community.”