Alleluia Lutheran Church conducts food drive for Humanitarian Service Project's Feed the Kids program
Joann Jackson and Heather Smith from Alleluia Lutheran Church in Naperville delivered a van filled with food to help needy children in DuPage County through the Humanitarian Service Project's (HSP) Feed the Kids Project. The church has partnered with HSP by supporting its programs that serve needy children, seniors, and families since 2003.
The religious ed teachers and directors of the Vacation Church School were the driving force behind the success of the church's food drive. Their enthusiasm for helping the less fortunate in our community was apparent in how they inspired the children in the church's K-5 Vacation Church School to collect and donate such a great amount of non-perishable items to the Feed the Kids Project. During their camps, as part of their PandaMania theme, they raffled off seven adorable stuffed panda bears. The children received a raffle ticket for each food item they brought in to donate. Joann and Heather said the children were excited about the food drive and learned about the importance of helping other, less fortunate children in their community.
Alleluia Lutheran Church's food drive will be used for the HSP's Feed the Kids Project which fills the nutrition gap for low- income children when school is out for the summer. These children, who receive the majority of their daily nutrients from federally subsidized meals at school through the School Breakfast Program and National Lunch Program, experience a drastic reduction in nutrition during the summer months and often go hungry. By providing their families with a total of 750 pounds of in June, July, and August, the Feed the Kids Project is able to relieve the hunger and stress that these needy children face. Each food package contains nutritious, vitamin-rich foods - 9 varieties of fresh vegetables, 9 selections of fresh fruits, 7 selections of frozen meats, at least four 25-pound boxes of non-perishables, and child-friendly healthy snacks.
Joann Jackson, the director of Alleluia Lutheran Church's Church School, said, “Our church also helps children in other countries every year, which is great and we love doing it. We also want to help the people that live in our communities. We tell the children, ‘this could be going to your neighbor.' We tell them that they can have such an impact right here.”
Contact Alleluia Lutheran Church: http://www.alleluialutheran.org/
Contact the Humanitarian Service Project: hsp@humanitarianservice.org.
HSP's website: www.humanitarianservice.org
HSP's blog: humanitarianserviceproject.blogspot.com.
About The Humanitarian Service Project:
HSP has been given the highest Four Star rating by Charity Navigator for the sixth consecutive year. HSP's mission is to alleviate the pain and suffering that poverty creates in seniors and children living in DuPage and Kane counties, Illinois. Last year during the Christmas Offering Project, 1,264 children received gifts and 150 impoverished families received three weeks of groceries, frozen meats, and fresh produce. With the Senior Citizen Project, HSP provides a monthly food delivery and secret pal gifts to 120 low-income seniors. The Children's Birthday Project reaches the youngest underprivileged, making birthdays and Christmas truly memorable occasions for 700 children. Feed the Kids provides 100 low-income families with groceries and fresh produce during the summer months. HSP conducts an annual school supplies drive that benefited a total of 5,200 children by giving supplies to the DuPage Back to School Fair and directly to schools and individual children.