Lord, when did we see you hungry?

I received an email this morning from Charlotte Hoppe (our area Disciples of Christ minister) regarding the tragedy of unrest in Mexico. The "violence nourished by the money made from drugs" is receiving some attention, but not enough. My heart goes out to the poor souls of parts of Mexico dealing daily with murder, ransacked homes, ransom notes and missing children, large fees for family protection, blackmail, corruption, and the latest: starvation. Many families are thankful for food donations coming in, but even with donation only 50% of their nutritional needs are being met. A church in El Paso is heading up a project to feed our brothers and sisters in Mexico. Here is a portion of the email I read this morning:

"How much is needed? A lot! A challenge of 1000 lbs of Beans & 1000 lbs Rice has been accepted by one church in the TRA [Tres Rios Area]. Recently, a 50 lb bag of Beans with a 50 lb bag of Rice was purchased for $ 42 total at Sam’s Club in El Paso. $ 840 will provide 1Ton of food. Beans & Rice can be sent to First Christian Church of El Paso, 901 Arizona, El Paso, TX, 79902, phone: 915-533-6819, Attn: Sr. Min. Leslie Dalstra. Money donations can also be sent to the First Christian Church of El Paso at the same address. Please mark your check with “Beans & Rice” and these monies will be converted into Beans & Rice and gasoline for the distribution in Mexico."

If your heart strings have been pulled as mine have, find a way to get involved!

I am the summer youth minister at Los Altos Christian Church in Abq, NM. Our youth will be collecting donations and hosting a "Beans & Rice Lunch" on September 19, 2010. Our goal will be to collect monetary gifts to send to El Paso because they can purchase the food just as well as we can and I would rather help as much as we can (not waste any on shipping). If you do not live in this area, feel free to send money to Los Altos (contact me for info) and we will make sure it gets where it needs to go, or follow the instructions above and send it straight to El Paso.

One favor: if you do get involved, please comment here, call me, email me, let me know about it! I would love to here about it. Please do the same if you have other suggestions of how we may respond with love to our neighbors in need.

"They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?'
Matthew 25:44