In an effort to assist needy families from the Valdosta/Lowndes County area during the pandemic, we began serving sack lunches along with breakfasts to the community. The program began in March with us providing meals twice a week on Mondays and Wednesdays. Overall we have averaged serving more than 500 people each meal time, and more than 700 people served each time over the last month. With the start of the school year, we have transitioned to just once a week meals on Wednesdays from 11am to 1pm (or until we run out) in the front yard of the Living Bridges Ministry Community Center located at 111 E Adair Street. Families may come by and pick up lunches for the entire family. We will accept food donations for sack meals or people may donate monetarily to specifically provide food. Donations can be brought to our Community Center Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays ONLY from 9am to 3pm. Thus far we have already served the people of Valdosta with more than 25,000 sack lunches. Since each sack contains a lunch, a breakfast, and a snack. We have sent over 58,000 meals out into the community!
We are amazed at how God continues to provide, but we also know we could never have considered serving all those families without strong community support! Several businesses and groups who have supported us over the last few weeks! We are so thankful for your support! Special thanks to Randy DeCoudres from Woodstack/Friends/Salty Snapper for coordinating the cooking of most of our food! Thank you to our volunteers who came from Valdosta Police Department, Park Avenue UMC, Valdosta, the Church: The People not the Building, Greater Valdosta United Way, Valdosta Rotary Club and other individuals for your tireless service on our food line. Thank you to the staff of CrossPointe Church for bagging bulk cereal in individual portions so we could send it out through our line. Thank you to Pepsi-Cola Bottling, St John's Catholic Church, Chick-fil-A North Valdosta, Woodstack BBQ Tavern, Big Nick's, Church of God by Faith, Park Avenue UMC, Valdosta, Corbett Brothers Farms, CrossPointe Church, the UGA extension office master gardeners who have brought produce from the school gardens and Christi Marsh - State Farm for your food and drink donations! Park Ave UMC brought over 4,000 food items that they collected from their church members! Thank you to Christi Marsh - State Farm for color books that we could send out through our line to kids. Thank you Walmart Valdosta - Norman Dr for seed donations that we sent out so our families could plant flowers and produce! Thank you to Barnes Healthcare Services for the grant, to the Valdosta Board of REALTORS, Laws Furniture Central, Perfect Settings, Greater Valdosta United Way and so many others for your donations that keep the sack lunch line running! Continued thanks to Dana and Cheryl for the Faith Over Fear sign fundraiser which continues to sell signs to fund lunches! How blessed we are to have all of you involved with us! Please consider how you can join in contributing to the effort by donating to help feed these families. We appreciate all the prayers, donations and support of volunteers and donors!
