UMC Food Ministry: Filling the gap
March 23, 2020
By Rev. Dr. Larry Karow
UMC Food Ministry, a ministry of the Northern Kentucky District of our Kentucky Annual Conference, is in its second decade of serving meals to children in Kentucky and Ohio. On a typical day, we serve more than 5,000 meals in child care and after school settings, and during the summer more than 15,000 meals daily. These are all done in settings where kids gather.
Of course, with the COVID-19 pandemic, kids cannot gather at present. However, that isn't stopping UMC Food from getting food to children who need it. UMC Food has many pickup places in churches, libraries and community centers, where children and families can come pick up several days’ worth of meals for their kids. Mason County, Kentucky, has already passed out a couple of thousand meals in the past week to kids who need food. UMC Food is developing mobile routes with times and places where our logo vans will stop, and kids can come to the van and get several days’ worth of meals to take home. Our meals are primarily shelf stable, so we can maintain food safety along with food nutrition.
UMC Food is partnering with YMCAs in Campbell, Boone and Mason counties as well as all over Greater Cincinnati to provide meals for the child care centers that are designated only for children of health care service workers so that doctors, nurses, orderlies, janitors, and cafeteria workers can go to work taking care of those in need without worrying about child care. UMC Food will feed children at 12 sites designated only for this purpose.
This is the church at work. This is your church at work. Check us out at www.umcfoodministry.org.
Larry Karow is CEO of UMC Food Ministry. His email is safy@aol.com.
Of course, with the COVID-19 pandemic, kids cannot gather at present. However, that isn't stopping UMC Food from getting food to children who need it. UMC Food has many pickup places in churches, libraries and community centers, where children and families can come pick up several days’ worth of meals for their kids. Mason County, Kentucky, has already passed out a couple of thousand meals in the past week to kids who need food. UMC Food is developing mobile routes with times and places where our logo vans will stop, and kids can come to the van and get several days’ worth of meals to take home. Our meals are primarily shelf stable, so we can maintain food safety along with food nutrition.
UMC Food is partnering with YMCAs in Campbell, Boone and Mason counties as well as all over Greater Cincinnati to provide meals for the child care centers that are designated only for children of health care service workers so that doctors, nurses, orderlies, janitors, and cafeteria workers can go to work taking care of those in need without worrying about child care. UMC Food will feed children at 12 sites designated only for this purpose.
This is the church at work. This is your church at work. Check us out at www.umcfoodministry.org.
Larry Karow is CEO of UMC Food Ministry. His email is safy@aol.com.