Meaghan Crump, event coordinator, sells t-shirts for Change This World at East Side Church of God after services. Each shirt is $20 and the money goes toward 50 meals for the starving.
“Every three seconds a person dies of starvation or preventable disease.” This is according to changethisworld.com, an organization that strives to help those that are suffering from hunger.
The website also states that there is enough food in the world to “feed every human being 2,700 calories per day.” Change This World (CTW) is partnering with churches, schools and individuals to make sure that starvation is not a problem.
East Side Church of God has partnered with CTW and is hosting a packing event as part of their missions month.
East Side will raise $12,500, which equals 50,000 meals.
Pastor of Student Ministries and Missions at East Side, Mark Shaner, said that they are “25 percent of the way there.”
Raising the money will be done through a variety of tactics.
East Side passed out water bottles to the congregation Jan. 9 and asked participants to fill them up with dimes. A full water bottle amounts to about $95, equaling 350 meals.
“Even though it’s small,” said AU senior Ricci Emmons, who attends East Side, “it’s making a bigger difference than people might think.”
When asked about the response that East Side has had towards raising the money, Shaner said that a woman came in the Wednesday morning after the announcement of filling the water bottles and asked, “Is it too late to bring this in?”
The other methods of raising the money are through selling bracelets, bags and t-shirts. The t-shirts are made through a company called Uth Stuph, a custom Christian apparel organization.
Emmons said that shirts are $20 and would equal giving 50 meals.
Shaner described that even the kids in the church are helping to raise funds. They are collecting quarters in M&M tubes equalling $13 each to help raise money.
Part of how this is all possible is through AU senior Meaghan Crump, who serves as an event coordinator for CTW.
Crump said that through an internship at the 2010 Indiana Youth Convention, she found out about CTW. After helping package 3,000 meals for CTW, she was hired in August as staff.
“I work with the churches who want to host a packing event,” said Crump of her responsibilities.
That role has led her to be the event coordinator for East Side’s packing event.
How the packing event works is that after the money has been collected, meals will be wrapped by volunteers.
“It takes about three hours to package 50,000 meals,” said Crump.
Shaner said that middle school and high school students will help put together the meals from 8-9 a.m.
Then during the first service, all Sunday school members and regular second service attendees will help package the meals.
All regular first service attendees are scheduled to help with the meals from 10:45 a.m.-noon.
The meals consist of rice, soy, vegetables, vitamins and minerals. They are made by Hungry for a Change, an organization in partnership with CTW, and distributed by IsleGO and the Hands and Feet project.
CTW’s website states that of the 23,483 people that die per day from starvation or preventable diseases, 16,000 of those are children.
In light of these statistics, Crump said that the focus of CTW is children. She said that meals are mainly sent out to villages, orphanages and to areas in need of disaster relief.
“It is a way to make a direct global impact,” said Crump. “No person should be dying from starvation.”
Shaner said that half of East Side’s meals will go to Haiti and the other half to Africa.
East Side’s packing event will be held Feb. 27 at the church.
Aside from raising the money for the 50,000 meals, Shaner hopes that families will package the meals together.
For college students, Shaner referred to the packing event as a “reverse college meal.” Instead of the normally scheduled college meals, students can help deliver meals to the world.
Shaner said after the meals are ready to be shipped, the men’s ministry will load the meals onto semitrailers.
“We can’t keep turning our heads and playing church,” said Shaner. “I love it when the church is the church.”
To help East Side and CTW by purchasing t-shirts or other items that bring awareness to this issue of hunger, go to ctw.com/eschog.
“[Raising money] can have such a big influence on someone’s life” said Emmons.
“I’m excited that it will spark a fire in Anderson,” said Crump.
