Be a Bringer of Hope this Season

 

 

 

Vicky Holcomb is doing God’s work. In a time when many people have lost their jobs and don’t have enough to eat, Vicky is feeding them.

 

Last Sunday as the sunset created shadows on the ski slopes of Breckenridge, I dropped off a spinach mushroom and pumpkin lasagna at Father Dyer’s Methodist Church in Breckenridge for their Sunday community dinner. 

 

Every Sunday, Vicky and her volunteers provide a hot meal for up to eighty hard-working people, who may or may not have enough to make ends meet despite holding down jobs around town.

 

On alternating Sundays, volunteers from the churches of Saint John the Baptist Episcopal church, St. Mary’s Catholic Church, and Father Dyer drop off warm casseroles to be served by other volunteers. Vicky also receives generous donations of food from Mountaintop Cookies, Ridge Street Kitchen, and Soupz On.

 

Vicky needs help because she’s been carrying much of this project on her shoulders for a long time. Yet the number of people that she feeds each Sunday has doubled from 35 to 75 people. 

 

Food insecurity is a real issue in our community. If you or your church or community group would like to help, please contact Vicky because she needs additional hot dishes and volunteers to serve them. 

 

Father Dyer Church also runs a food pantry on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and they are always in need of canned goods. If you want to help Vicky feed our neighbors, contact her at: jmuvicki@gmail.com

 

On the other side of our county, Smart Bellies is feeding children and their families who are facing food insecurity. Here’s what they are doing about it and how you can help:

 

“Smart Bellies strives to eliminate childhood hunger in Summit County by providing nutritious food for kids to enjoy every weekend. Since the pandemic, Smart Bellies has opened its program to all students and families enrolled in Summit School District. 

 

“Currently Smart Bellies is providing weekend food for around 350 children a week from 155 families through a home delivery service. The third week of December, ingredients to prepare a holiday meal will be included in each delivery. If you would like to donate, please go to smartbellies.org/holidays. A $25 donation will purchase ingredients for one family meal. If you would like to volunteer this holiday season, please go to smartbellies.org/volunteer.”

 

In a generous community like Summit County, we strive to make sure no adult or child goes to bed hungry. If we each make a small contribution of time or money, we can wipe hunger out.

 

I have sent in my check to Smart Bellies and I’m on a team to provide casseroles for Father Dyer’s Sunday dinner. I am sharing this because I wouldn’t ask you to do something that I wouldn’t be willing to do myself. So, I am asking you to help feed our neighbors in need.

 

Hunger comes in many forms and during this season, many of us may be experiencing spiritual hunger. After our bodies have been fed, we may recognize a spiritual hunger which I believe is our soul seeking God. 

 

It’s a hunger I feel when I haven’t been to church in a few weeks, when I haven’t received the blessed sacrament of holy communion. 

 

Spiritual hunger is my soul telling me to pursue a closer relationship with our Creator and source of Love. This means I turn off the TV and spend 30 minutes talking with God, reading a spiritual book, and praying for others. Most of all, it means that I simply ask God to come closer, to come into my heart and live there and make a difference in my life.

 

During this second week of Advent, let’s make this a priority. Let’s spend a few minutes each day asking God to feed our spiritual hunger.

 

During the month of December, I’m reading one chapter a day from the Gospel of St. Matthew, to remind myself why I believe. I invite you to join me.

 

Advent is about waiting with anticipation for the arrival of Jesus Christ, who came and walked among us, to teach us how to love one another better. The fact that we do this every year and have for centuries with the same sense of joy, speaks to not only the importance of Christ’s arrival but his lasting impact on our lives. 

 

Once we’ve been spiritually fed, let’s feed our community with God’s love and real food. What better way to live the spirit of this season, than giving your time, food, or money, to feed your neighbor?

 

To find out what you can do to make sure no child or family goes hungry this Christmas, 

please contact Vicky at Father Dyer’s ( jmuvicki@gmail.com) as well as the good people of Smart Bellies ( smartbellies.org/holidays or smartbellies.org/volunteer . 

 

 Suzanne Anderson is the author of The Best Christmas, an Advent devotional.