ATLANTA – “On days that I was away from home from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., I didn’t worry about eating because of the Koala Pantry. When my family’s refrigerator broke for weeks I was able to eat well. Without this resource, I would not have been able to complete either semester.”

Food insecurity on college campuses is often a hidden problem because students do not want to admit they are in need…until colleges establish free or low-cost food ministries and discover how many students use them.

Columbia College in South Carolina was one of seven colleges that received Global Ministries’ grants last year to develop pantries or other means of supplying food and hygiene supplies for students. The colleges receiving grants, made possible by Human Relations Sunday offerings, were all United-Methodist related institutions with significant numbers of enrolled students of color with diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds.

At Columbia College’s Koala Pantry, some students who frequented the pantry disclosed that they would not have been able to continue their college education without it. For students without reserve income for basic necessities, it is difficult to focus on being a full-time student while working to scrape together an income.

“The Koala Pantry has been one of my favorite services on campus,” noted another Columbia student. “I have used it many times, along with several of my teammates, when we needed to grab a quick snack between classes and practices. As a volunteer at the Koala Pantry this past spring semester (2023), I also witnessed how much good it does for many other students. I noticed that many rely on the pantry’s supply throughout the week.”

While the grants were used to set up or refurbish existing pantries, these full-time ministries need full-time partners to keep supplies stocked and volunteers working. All of the grantees last year fostered additional resources to keep their pantries viable throughout the year.

At Greensboro College in the Western North Carolina Conference, Tyler Smith, a former student, current theological student and the Greensboro College Community Service coordinator, notes a number of ways they found to support their new Pride Pantry, one of three available on the campus.

Greensboro College works with its athletic teams and honors societies to host food drives to support the pantries. In addition, they partner with Spartan Open Pantry, hosted by College Place United Methodist Church in Greensboro, to give students access to a larger food pantry that provides hot meals throughout the week.

“We hope to shine a spotlight on food insecurity on college campuses and we also plan to offer educational opportunities for our staff to discover more about the issue and make a difference in students’ lives,” Smith noted in a video about the Pride Pantry.

Emory and Henry College in Virginia opened the Stinger’s Supply Shelf a couple years ago and its Bonner scholar program helps to coordinate the pantry operation. Appalachian Center for Civic Life helps to supply volunteers. The campus food vendor, Sodexo, maintains the food supply and churches and individuals donate hygiene supplies.

In Waleska, Georgia, Reinhardt University upgraded its pantry to increase the hours of operation. Dr. Walter May, Reinhardt’s dean of students, notes their grant was used to expand access to the pantry with a card-access system; increase storage space; install air conditioning and acquire a base inventory of hygiene products, as well as food preparation and cookware items, such as bowls, plates and utensils.

“The research is clear that college students without reliable food access earn lower grades and suffer higher levels of stress,” says May. “The food pantry is one of many university strategies that supports our students and is an important part of the Student Health Center’s outlook on student life – caring for the whole person.”

Birmingham Southern College in Alabama used its grant to focus on the college’s “E-term” or January term, outside the regular 2-semester schedule of classes. Students themselves developed the idea for a free food market during the extra term that provides fresh produce, breads, meats and dairy. The market was free-of-charge to all students, and open 24/7. This resource was embraced and heavily utilized by the students; the shelves were nearly empty by each week’s restocking.

Students attending colleges and universities from diverse economic backgrounds often experience financial independence for the first time and they must learn how to balance work and being a full-time student. Many college campuses are surprisingly far from affordable grocery stores, so students without cars find themselves living in a food desert, and if they miss a campus meal, they go without food until the next is served. Working in partnership with Global Ministries, churches, businesses and volunteer agencies, United Methodist-related institutions are responding to this particular form of food insecurity.

Christie R. House is a consultant writer and editor with Global Ministries and UMCOR.

EVANGELISM AND CHURCH REVITALIZATION

Founding and nurturing new faith communities and supporting existing congregations that seek to increase membership and expand ministries into local communities have historic roots and contemporary implications for Global Ministries. Missionaries who train pastors to plant churches in new places; mission initiatives, which start new Methodist faith communities; scholarships that assist church leaders to earn the credentials and degrees they need for service and ministry; and networks that resource racial and ethnic faith communities across the United States are examples of Global Ministries’ commitment to evangelism and church revitalization.

Human Relations Day is an opportunity to stand with other United Methodist churchesto build the beloved community envisioned by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. This denominationwide Special Sunday is designed to strengthen human relationships and community outreach. By participating in the Human Relations Day offering, United Methodists embrace the power of relationships, the strength of community and the good news that all of God’s children are of sacred value.

Gifts made on Human Relations Day, Jan. 14, 2024, support the Community Developers Program as well as community advocacy through the United Methodist Voluntary Services administered through Global Ministries.

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Asti White, a Global Mission Fellow, discusses how his ministry in Michigan is addressing food injustice and how they’ve adapted their methods of fellowship amidst crisis.

The post Finding a Way: Food Security and Fellowship appeared first on Global Ministries.

Support the work of Sustainable Development.

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Support the work of Global Mission Fellows.

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But when you give a banquet or a reception, invite the poor, the disabled, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed because they cannot repay you; for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous (the just, the upright).
– John 14:13-14 (The Amplified Bible)

Over the past year, I’ve been praying for some new directions in my personal walk with God. For months, as I engaged in my regular routines, I felt a vague restlessness, coupled with the disturbing question, “Why is life so monotonous?” No matter what I tried, I always felt like something was missing, and eventually it felt like I had nothing more to give. Loudly and often I voiced this to the Lord.

God, with a divine sense of humor, responded by shaking things up and helping me engage in a new way. At times, I look up, smile and say: “I know that was you, God! Thank you!”

When I asked God to open new directions for me, God literally changed my location, and our family had to move. I had no idea God would be so wonderfully radical or so kindly ruthless.

Weeks after we moved, hunger for God’s word became my classroom as God began changing more of the inner world of my heart. I shared these experiences with friends and others for encouragement.

God puts new people in my life because I have a role to play in theirs. Take, for example Jai*, a 36-year-old single lady and rookie graduate student from Vietnam. She has no relatives in Japan and she felt isolated. Student life was tough on her. In fact, she contemplated suicide. She planned to overdose with medicines, but God had other plans for Jai. When she went to the pharmacy to buy drugs, the pharmacy was closed!

A friend invited her to come to our house for Christmas fellowship. That night, she heard the biblical story of Christmas for the first time. She listened to our songs, prayers and sharing and enjoyed the food. She met new friends. Little did she know that God was speaking to her already.

Nearly two weeks after that gathering, she called and invited herself to come over to cook Vietnamese spring rolls, which I most welcomed. She said a peace formed within her from the first time she heard the true Christmas story.

People in various situations from many countries, who have no community to explore and enjoy life with, come to us on different occasions. They confess that they need community, which we provide for them. One said, “We only gathered one afternoon, but it fed me as if I’d eaten a whole, fat cow.” Another said, “Hope we meet often.”

Like Jai, these friends, who came closed, left opened. Friends who came lonely, left loved. Friends who came hungry, left full. They leave us changed, and, as always, the pleasure is ours.

Dear God, we pray for Christians in Japan to live harmoniously in doing the work for the glory of God. We pray for those we serve to be rescued from the power of darkness and brought into your glorious light.

*Name changed.

Devorah (“Debbie”) Umpig-Julian, from the Philippines, has served as a missionary in Japan since 2001. She works as a social worker for the Christian Coalition for Refugees and Migrant Workers in Tokyo, Japan. Her husband, Ronald Julian, serves as a missionary with the International Seafarers Ministry in Yokohama.

Give Now

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When the Rev. Jenny Partch, her son Henry, and layperson, Michelle Danagol, attended the Global Ministries EarthKeepers training in Salt Lake City, Utah, last fall, they worked on their vision for a community garden serving the international community in Burien, Wash. “The real dream of this garden goes back to another pastor in another time who saw ministry in this community through gardens and afterschool programs,” said Partch. “That idea lived in people here in this church and they wanted to be in connection with their community through a garden.”

Highline United Methodist Church is located in a food insecure community with lots of apartments in the area. People wanted a piece of ground to grow fresh, familiar food for their families. “We have people who have lived here for several generations,” said Partch. “We have people who came when folks were immigrating from Vietnam. We have folks who have immigrated more recently from the Pacific Islands, from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. We also have neighbors who are Chinese and others from the Congo, from Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea – we’re a very diverse neighborhood and so our neighbors come from all over the world.”

Their church had the perfect space on its property for a garden. Partch made connections with partner organizations in the area seeking to address food security. Thirteen-year-old Henry had ideas for engaging youth with the garden. Michelle was dreaming of ways the garden might deepen relationships in the community. “The EarthKeepers program is all about capacity-building,” said the Rev. Jenny Phillips, Global Ministries’ Creation Care program manager. “The team from Highline UMC had already started making plans for this project. The training gave them resources and space to enrich their ideas and hone their strategy.”

The congregation knew of opportunities to apply for small grants from community and government organizations but needed additional funding to bring its vision to life. After reviewing data that classified the neighborhood as a food desert and hearing of the team’s detailed plan to address it, the United Methodist Committee on Relief provided Highline UMC with a grant to help bring the garden to fruition. “The Hazel Valley Community Garden is a microcosm of how asset-based community development can uplift and serve marginalized communities, bringing seemingly disparate groups together,” said Lorrie King, UMCOR program manager for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene), Food Security and Livelihoods. “Also, it provided the opportunity to support the church domestically while highlighting the impact that the EarthKeepers program can have at the local level.” This is the first EarthKeepers project to receive an UMCOR grant.

After hundreds of hours of digging and tilling, volunteers installed 30 raised beds and are beginning to plant food. They also installed infrastructure for rainwater cisterns and a rain garden to ensure healthy stormwater management. Volunteers are working to make the garden fully accessible so that neighbors and church members with mobility constraints can participate in growing food.

On Pentecost Sunday, June 9, church and community members dedicated the garden to God, praying for the healing of God’s creation and the nourishment of the community. “It’s sharing God’s love and because God gives us this earth, it’s the grace of God having this,” said the Rev. Sophia Estevéz, special outreach evangelist for Highline UMC. “It is a gift to plant it and a gift to have the fruit…I’m so excited!”

People of all ages participated in the dedication service and learned words of blessing in each other’s languages. Henry Partch, the youngest Global Ministries EarthKeeper in the program, carried the baptismal font around the garden. As participants sprinkled water on each garden bed, the community blessed the soil in English and Spanish: “The waters of grace for the garden of God. Las aguas de gracia para el jardín de Dios.”

The Rev. Jenny Phillips is the Creation Care program manager for Global Ministries.

New this year: all EarthKeepers will have the opportunity to apply for small grants to support their projects. Learn more and apply at archive.umcmission.org/earthkeepers.

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