Thank You for Helping Families in Our Community!

On March 13th, 2020, lives in Findlay, the United States, and all across the world were drastically changed by the COVID-19 outbreak. Schools were closed, many started working from home and some even lost their jobs. Right from the beginning, one of the main focuses of our church was to provide relief in any way possible to our community. Our Sew, Quilt, Share team stepped up and sewed over 2500 masks that we distributed to our community. We hosted two mobile food pantries serving nearly 200 families a total of 10,000lbs of food each time. We had several people take advantage of reaching out specifically in their neighborhoods using our “Help Flyers.” And we even had some of our church members volunteering at different local organizations on their own time. All of these ways that our church members stepped up to help were an encouragement to me, our staff, and our community. However, the one area of service being highlighted today is how our church was able to help feed Liberty Benton families with food packages every week.

As soon as we got word that schools were closing, Kristi St. Amour and Lindsay Norman, two staff members at Gateway reached out to the principal at Liberty Benton High School to see if Gateway could help in any way with feeding students. Right away, we were asked if we would be able to put together food packages each week containing basic breakfast and lunch items for 65 kids. At the time, we had over 40 people signed up on our Covid-19 help page who were ready to help with any need. So, we created a sign-up sheet for the individuals who had signed up to help and listed the items needed. The donators signed up for specific items to bring each week, then brought them to the church and set them just inside the back office doors. Unsurprisingly, we had an overwhelming surplus of items right from the start because of how many people wanted to help in this way. Being unsure of how long this would go on, Kristi and Lindsay wisely decided to take inventory each week and remain stocked on items just in case we had some weeks of low donations.

After 2 weeks of feeding 65 kids, the LB principal asked if we could increase to packing 80 bags each week. This seemed like a pretty tall task at first, but we trusted that God would provide, and He very well did. After 11 weeks, we finished on May 28, packing our final 80 bags to be distributed to LB families. The surplus we had was so great that final week that Kristi and Lindsay were able to make MUCH bigger packages to send out.

This entire process was so encouraging to watch as it truly was a ministry where Christ followers lived out the commandment to ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The selflessness, generosity, and kindness did not go unnoticed by the LB community, the families who were receiving food, or Gateway Church. Throughout the 11 weeks, we received countless thanksgivings and encouragements. As incredible as it was to watch people donate enough food each week to pack 80 bags per week for 11 weeks straight, let it be known that ALL glory goes to God! The final tallies of how many of each item was given can be seen in the table below!