Central Assembly of God is doing weekly drive-thru food distribution with a Gospel Message in each Box of Hope. Just last week we handed out boxes of non-perishable food and meat/eggs/cheese/milk, blessing over two hundred families within the Lehigh Valley. The Second Harvest Food Bank has decided during this time and throughout the summer to give us the food at no charge. School administrators are grateful. Our Family Life Center is packed out with food and refrigerators – it is beautiful.

-Amy McClenithan: Central Assembly of God, Bethlehem, PA

 

Faith Church has a food bank where people can drive up to the church doors, speak through a video camera to tell us their name and how many are in their family, then get back into their car, and our volunteers take the bags of groceries out to them. We will continue this for two days per week throughout this pandemic. We are also providing lunches for the local fire, police and nursing home staffs. There were so many great testimonies from these outreaches. I have even received calls from local mayors because they see the need for spiritual hope for their communities. God is moving as we look for ways to reach out to people during this crisis.

-Rodney Murphy: Faith Church, Hazle Township, PA

 

Our church has been a distribution site for the Armstrong School District Meal Program. We hand out, on average, around 275 breakfasts and lunches Monday through Friday.

-Craig Riggle: New Life Center, Ford City, PA

 

We have been holding a downtown feeding ministry once a month for the homeless/needy for about five years, and it is needed now more than ever as most programs have been shut down. We make sandwiches or cook a meal for an average of 200 people and serve from a storefront in Lancaster City. We also distribute clothes and hygiene packets.

-Mark Trimble: First Assembly, Lancaster, PA

 

Thanks to the brilliant strategy of some ministry leaders, we designed a drive through food distribution in our parking lot for over 100 people. Whether it be rain, wind or the corona virus, it seems that there is no force able to hinder the spread of the love and compassion of Christ by His people.

-Jerry Wise: Journey Christian Church, Thompsontown, PA

 

Bread of Life distributes produce, over-the-counter medicines, school supplies, baby essentials, and used furniture and appliances to struggling families and individuals. It is a huge blessing in their community and throughout PennDel!

-Gary Bellis: Bread of Life, Newport, PA

 

For the past two weeks we have been taking snacks and water bottles to St. Luke’s Hospital, which is less than a mile from our church. We deliver them to the Emergency Room entrance. On one of those trips, we met two nurses. They had tears running down from their eyes as they saw the items we brought. They wanted to know more about us and our church. We put a loving note on each box, and let them know who we are and that we love and appreciate each of them. They were so very grateful. We even had two people outside on the bench come up and hand us $23 to assist us. They had tears in their eyes too!

-Rick Barnes: Epic Church, Fountain Hill, PA

 

Before this pandemic, we saw the deep poverty in Philadelphia, and through much prayer we decided to launch a children’s feeding program that would not only provide a daily meal to children but would serve as a means to connect and share the Gospel. We started building a fully equipped food truck which should be active by the end of April. However, we knew that there was an immediate need so we launched in March. Within the first week and a half we served over 1,200 meals. Once the food truck is complete, our goal is 300-500 meals a day. It takes a lot of resources, food, cooks and volunteers but the investment is worth it. The currency in heaven is souls.

-David Dominguez: Philly Dream Center, Philadelphia, PA

 

Our church members rallied to give toward the supplies for one local hospital, and a local business partner matched that giving to sponsor another local hospital. In all, we ended up buying and delivering roughly $600 in snacks and treats to both hospitals. At the first hospital, the nurse that we were interacting with started to cry, telling us how overwhelming this gesture was. The response from the second hospital was pretty similar – they couldn’t believe that we just wanted to bless them. It was a great success in our eyes to see the church rally around and being generous hearted in the middle of chaos.

-Chris Czuchra: Grace Assembly, Spring City, PA

 

We have partnered with the largest food pantry in the northeast part of the city. We are preparing grocery bags for over a thousand people a week. We are also leading the way as we have begun delivering food to the elderly and those who are COVID-19 positive. Currently, we have around thirty members who have tested positive and have several who are awaiting results.

-Mark Novales: CityReach Church, Philadelphia, PA

 

We have been helping Teen Challenge, Hope Rescue Mission and Helping Harvest Food Bank with their increased needs due to COVID-19. Also, we are providing groceries for women and men in need that are part of Ashes to Beauty (food for the homeless), providing diapers and wipes to Mercy Ministries and working with Prospectus Berco to take meals to special needs adults. The church has certainly been deployed!

-Maritza Huertas: GT Church, West Lawn, PA

 

We have purchased Power Boxes of food from our local food bank to distribute to both our church families and families in the community who need help. We have also been connecting with first responders to offer help such as supplying hand sanitizer. We are donating clothes to the hospital for patients being discharged.

-Vicki Barton: Central Assembly of God, Houston, PA