I hope you all are as impressed with this collection of food as I am.  We were invited and accepted an invitation to donate food to the Mechanicsburg School District, through the Pastor’s Network in Mechanicsburg that fairly recently was formed.  This network has been very helpful in serving people here in Mechanicsburg, including the Broad Street Dinners, and establishing a stronger connection with our Schools and between Congregations.  Our School District had been serving students who get free and reduced lunches through a Federal Program, and have continued to do that with take-out meals on Mondays and Wednesdays.  They also had been sending home backpacks to those same students over the weekend.  Recognizing that those students and families would still need food, and knowing that the Wildcat Foundation, which had been funding that program, could not do that on their own, the District Administration turned to our Congregations and asked if we could help.  The response has been very positive, with a number of Congregations acting as the primary food givers for a particular week.  April 8 was our day and week.  Rev. Layne Lebo of McBIC and his family and other volunteers, where they have been receiving the donations, was very grateful for our donations and what we were able to find and give.  On Fridays, District School Buses will deliver boxes of food to the families of students, because they recognize not all people have access to transportation to come pick food up.  These donations have been very much appreciated.

Thank you to everyone who donated food.  Thank you to everyone who donated cash so we could buy food.  Thank you to those who offered creative ideas.  Thank you to Patty and Dave Scott, and Terry and Gene Shaner, who used the money donated to go out and buy the needed and necessary food items.  They were able to focus their purchases on areas of specific need, and then they even  labeled those groupings of food so the people dividing it up into family shares would be able to find what they needed more easily. Thank you to the Allisons, Scotts & Shaners who delivered all the donations to McBIC.

We will be asked to be one of the Primary donating Congregations for another week within the next couple of weeks, and probably at least one more time after that.  Depending on how long the schools are closed, this program could stretch into the summer.  We will let you know as we get more information about when it is our turn again. 

Thank you for being the Church, for living out your faith, for being Jesus’ eyes, ears, hands and feet here in Mechanicsburg, for caring.  Especially in times of crisis, this is how we care for each other, for our community, for the common good.  We do what we can and we act in ways to protect ourselves and those around us.  Thank you!!!  Stay safe.  Be well. Take  care.  Peace, Rev. John